H  E 

1905 
L-3 


yC-NRLF 


B  3  ?L,i  ^c^ 


Railway  Regulation 

^.    State  and    ^ 

1    Interstate     I 

—  4^  — 

Robert  M,  La  Follette 


RAILWAY  REGULATION  .  .  Robert  M.  La  Follette 
LA  FOLLETTE  OF  WISCONSIN  .  .  Emerson  Hou^h 
THE  STORY  OF  GOV.  LA  FOLLETTE    .    Lincoln  Steffens 


WISCONSIN  PRIMARY  ELECTION  LAW 
WISCONSIN  R.  R.  RATE  COMMISSION  LAW 


PRIOE     2S     OENXS 


Railway  Regulation 


state  and  Interstate 


BY 


ROBERT  M.  LA  FOLLETTE 


RAILWAY  REGULATION  -  -  -  Robert  M.  La  Follbttb 
LA  FOLLETTE  OF  WISCONSIN  -  -  -  -  Emerson  Hough 
THE  STORY  OF  GOV.  LA  FOLLETTE  -  Lincoln  Stbffens 
Appendix— WISCONSIN    PRIMARY    ELECTION    LAW 

WISCONSIN   R.   R.    RATE   COMMISSION  LAW 


Published  by 

THE  SLAYTON  LYCEUM  BUREAU 

Steinway  Hall,   Chicago 

Copyright,   1905 


CantwedC  Printing  towpany^'Sla^diflbn.  Wis. 


Robert  M.  LaFollette 


RAILWAY  REGULATION 

By  ROBEiRT  M.  LA  FOLLETTE. 


STATE  CONTROL  OF  RAILWAY  SERVICES  AND  RATES. 

To  meet  and  wisely  discharge  the  responsibility  of  regulat- 
ing commerce,  state  and  interstate,  to  bring  railways  back  and   ^ 
hold  them  to  their  legitimate  business  as  common  carriers,  is 
the  most  important  work  in  the  government  of  this  republic 
for  this  generation  of  man. 

If  the  great  railway  corporations  of  the  country  are  using 
their  unlimited  power  without  abusing  it,  if  they  are  trans- 
porting  the  commerce  of  the  country  at  reasonable  rates,  with 
fairness  to  the  general  public,  with  a  just  regard  to  the  rights 
of  individuals,  and  without  favoritism  to  places  and  persons, 
then  they  might  justly  regard  government  control  and  regu- 
lation as  "unnecessary  and  meddlesome  interference.'* 

If,  however,  the  public  is  suffering  serious  wrong,  if  there  * 
are  far-reaching  abuses  in  the  transportation  of  its  commerce, 
if  the  railway  companies  are  not  only  carrying  the  commerce  of 
the  country  but  controlling  the  commerce  of  the  country,  deter- 
mining where  it  shall  be  massed,  where  the  markets  shall  be 
located,  and  their  control;  if  they  are  discriminating  in  favor 
of  the  large  shipper,  creating  and  fostering  industrial  and 
commercial  monopoly,  then  there  rests  upon  the  several  state 
legislatures  and  upon  congress  an  obligation  to  act,  and  to  act 
at  once,  with  all  the  determination  and  patriotism  commensu- 
rate with  the  duty  to  preserve  government  itself. 

Capital  and  labor,  wherever  employed  in  the  creation  of 
wealth,— whether  in  mining,  or  in  manufacturing,  or  in  agri- 
culture,—in  short,  material  production,  in  every  field  of  human 
activity,  is  absolutely  dependent  upon  transportation. 

It  is  not  more  vital  to  production,  upon  a  basis  attaining  to  •» 
the  upbuilding  of  any  community  or  section  of  the  country, 
that  lines  of  transportation  should  be  established  than  that, 
when  established,  the  sevice,  shall  be  adequate,  just  in  rate. 


Copyright,  1905,  by  Robert  M.   La  Follette. 

ivi20:5G59 


4  .  Bait  way  Regulation 

and  free  from  discrimination.  That  business,  town  or  section 
which  is  denied  the  opportunity  to  move  its  products  to  mar- 
kets at  fair  rates  and  upon  an  even  footing  with  a  competing 
business,  town  or  section,  must  inevitably  suffer  great  loss,  and, 
in  the  end,  be  forced  out  of  the  unequal  contest.  Therefore, 
the  general  growth  and  prosperity  of  every  community,  the 
interests  of  producer  and  consumer  alike,  depend  upon  these 
three  factors  in  transportation:  the  service  must  be  adequate; 
it  must  be  reasonable  in  cost ;  it  must  be  impartially  rendered 
with  respect  to  each  individual  and  every  business,  town  or 
^  section. 

The  founders  of  this  republic  recognized  the  importance  of 
establishing  lines  of  transportation  and  of  insuring  a  basis  of 
equality  for  each  community  in  its  exchange  of  products  with 
every  other.     They  ordained  that  commerce  between  the  states 
should  be  free  and  untrammeled.     The  state,  as  well  as  the 
nation,  aided  in  the  construction  of  roads  and  canals,  and  since 
1800  the  federal  government  has  supported  by  taxation  a  sys- 
tem of  river  and  harbor  improvements  upon  which  there  has 
been  expended  more  than  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  millions 
of  dollars  in  the  last  seven  years  alone.     Added  to  this,  nearly 
one-half  of  the  states  invested  large  sums  of  money  in  the  con- 
struction of  railroads,  and  town  and  county  aid  in  the  several 
states  throughout  the  country,  aggregating  many  hundred  mil- 
lions of  dollars,  was  contributed  for  like  purposes,  while  state 
and   national   governments    granted    out   of  the   public    lands 
enough,  in  aid  of  railroad  construction,  to  equal  in  area  the 
states  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Missouri,  Iowa  and  Wisconsin. 
All  that  has  been  invested  by  towns,  counties  and  states  in  roads 
and  turnpikes,  all  that  has  been  expended  in  building  locks  and 
dams  and  canals  and  in  broadening  and  deepening  rivers  and 
"^harbors  by  the  federal  government  for  more  than  a  century, 
together  with  the  vast  sums  of  money  donated  by  municipalities 
and  states,  and  the  lands  granted  by  state  and  national  govern- 
ments for  the  construction  of  railroads,  which  are  now  a  part 
of  the  great  systems  of  the  country,— has  been  paid  out  of  the 
public   purse  and   carved  out  of   the  public   domain.     Every 
dollar  of  the  money  and  every  acre  of  the  land  was  the  prop- 
erty of  the  people,  and,  independent  of  all  else,  each  citizen, 
however  humble,  ought  of  right  to  stand  upon  an  equal  footing 


Robert  M.  La  Follette  5 

with  every  other  citizen  respecting  transportation.  Further- 
more, the  state  creates  the  railway  corporation  and  bestows  upon 
it  special  powers  and  special  privileges  without  which  it  could 
not  establish  and  maintain  its  lines  or  build  up  its  business. 

The^  state  invested  the  transportation  company  with  one  of   ~^ 

the  greatest  powers  which  the  state  possesses,— the  right  to  take  ■ ' 
private  property  without  the  consent  of  the  owner.  This  grant 
of  power  is  made,  not  as  a  matter  of  favor  to  the  corporation, 
but  the  better  to  enable  it  to  discharge  its  duties  to  the  public. 
It  can  be  justified  upon  no  other  ground.  As  stated  by  the 
United  States  supreme  court: 

' '  The  state  would  have  no  power  to  grant  the  right  of  appro- 
priation unless  the  use  to  which  the  land  was  to  be  put  was  a 
public  one.  Taking  land  for  railroad  purposes  is  a  taking  for 
a  public  purpose,  and  the  fact  that  it  is  taken  for  a  public  pur- 
pose is  the  sole  justification  for  taking  it  at  all." 

The  grant  of  these  powers  and  privileges  to  the  railroad  and 
corporation  in  itself  establishes  the  character  of  the  transporta- 
tion business,  and  identifies  it  as  a  function  of  government.  It 
would  be  obnoxious  to  every  just  principle  upon  which  govern- 
ment is  founded  to  charter  railway  companies,  give  them  the 
right  of  eminent  domain,  authorize  the  bonding  of  towns  and 
counties,  and  grant  to  them  large  areas  of  the  public  lands,  if 
they  were  to  be  permitted  to  conduct  a  business  so  established 
upon  any  other  basis  than  that  of  absolute  and  exact  justice 
to  each  individual  and  to  every  interest.  The  only  principle 
upon  which  government  can  grant  such  powers  and  privileges, 
and  bestow  public  aid  upon  railroad  corporations,  is  that  they 
are  maintaining  public  highways  over  which  they  must  serve 
the  public  efficiently,  reasonably  and  impartially.  To  require 
full  and  exact  performance  of  this  public  duty  from  the  rail- 
way corporations  is  not  only  the  absolute  right,  but  it  is  the 
bounden  duty  of  both  state  and  national  governments. 

Under  our  form  of  government,  federal  and  state,  a  division 
of  powers  and  responsibilities  with  respect  to  transportation 
and  the  protection  of  the  commerce  of  the  people,  was  fixed  by 
constitutional  limitation.  Commerce  is  either  state  commerce 
or  interstate  commerce.  A  shipment  originating  and  ending 
within  a  state  is  state  commerce,  or  state  transportation.    With 


6  Railway  Regulation 

respect  to  such  a  shipment  the  national  government  can  exer- 
cise no  authority  or  control  whatever.  Commerce  of  this  char- 
acter is  purely  a  subject  of  domestic  concern  for  the  state.  If 
the  shipper  is  to  be  protected  in  his  right  to  an  efficient  ser- 
vice at  a  reasonable  rate,  without  discrimination  in  any  respect, 
it  must  be  by  state  government  alone. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  shipment  originating  in  one  state  and 
ending  in  another  state  is,  throughout  its  whole  course,  inter- 
state commerce.  This  is  true  with  respect  to  the  shipment  from 
the  time  it  begins  to  move  from  the  point  of  origin  until  it 
reaches  its  destination.  With  respect  to  such  a  shipment  the 
state  has  no  authority  and  can  afford  the  shipper  no  relief 
from  any  injustice  suffered  because  of  the  failure  of  the  railway 
company  to  discharge  properly  its  public  duty.  Such  redress 
must  come  from  the  federal  government,  to  which  the  state  has 
delegated  its  right  to  ''regulate  commerce  .  .  .  among  the  sev- 
eral states." 

For  more  than  a  generation  of  time  it  has  been  the  settled 
law  of  this  country  that  the  state,  through  its  legislature,  may 
control  railway  services  and  railway  rates  as  to  state  com- 
merce, and  that  the  national  government,  through  congress,  may 
control  railway  services  and  railway  rates  with  respect  to  in- 
terstate commerce. 

In  recognition  of  this  right,  several  of  the  states  have  estab- 
lished such  commissions  for  the  control  of  railway  services  and 
rates  within  the  state.  With  a  view  of  protecting  the  public 
in  all  its  transportation  extending  beyond  the  borders  of  the 
state,  congress  enacted  the  Interstate  Commerce  Law  in  1881^ 

Any  review  or  consideration  of  government  regulation  of 
railway  transportation  must  deal  with  state  and  federal  regu- 
lation, in  a  measure,  independently.  The  states  were  years  in 
advance  of  the  nation  in  moving  for  a  control  of  railway  serv- 
ices and  railway  rates.  As  Wisconsin,  Illinois,  Iowa  and  Min- 
nesota led  in  broadly  asserting  the  right  of  the  state  legislature 
to  control  transportation  rates  and  services,  a  consideration  of 
the  results  attained  in  these  states  is  important  and  necessary 
to  an  intelligent  understanding  of  the  whole  subject. 

In  the  early  70 's  these  states  enacted  legislation  for  the 
regulation  of  railroad  transportation.     The  legislation  was  then 


Robert  M.  La  Follette  7 

designated,  and  will  for  all  time  be  known  as  "Granger  Legis- 
lation. ' '  The  granger  statutes  were  at  that  time  and  have  ever 
since  been  violently  denounced  as  radical,  revolutionary,  and 
a  hindrance  to  the  development  and  prosperity  of  the  country. 
And  yet  the  granger  legislation  in  those  four  states  of  the  Old 
Northwest  was  simply  a  protest  of  a  conservative  and  law- 
abiding  people  in  the  name  of  the  law,  against  a  railroad  man- 
agement which  violated  the  rights  of  individuals  without  pre- 
tense of  excuse  or  justification.  Mr.  A.  B.  Stickney,  president 
of  the  Chicago  Great  Western  Railroad,  in  his  work  on  ''The 
Railway  Problem"  thus  presents  some  of  the  causes  leading  up 
to  the  granger  legislation: 

**It  will  not  be  difficult  when  the  conditions  existing  at  the 
beginning  of  granger  agitation  come  to  be  examined,  to  see 
that  railway  traffic  was  then  being  conducted  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  destroy  a  portion  of  the  value  of  the  property  of  large 
numbers  of  individuals,  and  the  whole  value  of  the  property 
of  certain  other  classes.  Startling  as  the  bald  statement  must 
naturally  be,  those  conditions  were  then  admitted  to  exist,  and 
continue  now,  to  a  more  limited  extent.  ...  As  soon  as  they 
came  to  realize  by  sad  experience  the  enormous  power  which 
discrimination  in  the  matter  of  rates  conferred  upon  the  man- 
agers of  railways  (who,  after  all,  are  but  human)  in  respect 
to  the  private  business  of  individuals,  it  could  not  be  expected 
that  a  free  people  would  tamely  submit  to  it.  .  .  .  This  unre- 
stricted power  to  discriminate  in  the  matter  of  rates  lodged  in 
the  hands  of  one  man,  the  manager  of  say  five  thousand  miles 
of  railway;  the  power  through  malice,  ignorance,  or  stupidity, 
to  decree  which  out  of  say  a  thousand  cities  and  villages  located 
on  his  lines  should  prosper  and  which  should  not;  which  indi- 
vidual out  of  say  ten  thousand  merchants  doing  business  in 
those  cities  and  villages  should  make  a  profit  or  a  loss.  .  .  . 
Such  enormous  power  over  the  fortunes  of  so  many  should  never 
be  lodged  in  the  hands  of  any  one  human  being." 

Speaking  further  on  this  subject,  and  of  the  attitude  of  rail- 
road presidents  and  managers,  in  opposition  to  control,  Presi- 
dent Stickney  says: 

''The  companies  at  first  denied  that  they  were  common  car- 
reirs  or  subject  to  the  duties  or  restrictions  imposed  upon  such 
carriers  by  the  common  law.  Upon  these  premises,  and  as  they 
supposed  in  the  interests  of  their  companies,  the  managers 
claimed  the  right  to  charge  such  rates  for  transporting  private 
persons  and  property  as  they  deemed  for  the  best  interests  of 
their  respective  companies,  regardless  of  their  reasonableness 
or  equality. 


8  Railway  Regulation 

"They  claimed  and  exercised  the  right  to  grant  monopolies 
in  business  to  favored  individuals  and  firms— for  example,  one 
man  or  firm  would  be  granted  the  exclusive  privilege  of  buying 
all  the  wheat  or  corn,  or  selling  all  the  fuel,  wood  and  coal; 
by  exercise  of  their  power  to  discriminate  in  regard  to  rates  and 
combinations,  they  were  enabled  to  enforce  these  grants  of  ex- 
clusive privileges  with  a  certainty  never  before  pertaining  to 
such  grants. 

"They  assumed  the  right  to  dictate  to  communities  in  what 
market  town  they  would  sell  their  produce  and  buy  their  sup- 
plies. Thus,  a  community  located  forty  miles  distant  from  St. 
Paul  and  four  hundred  miles  distant  from  Chicago  was  com- 
pelled to  trade  in  Chicago,  so  as  to  give  the  railway  the  long 
haul,  and  in  order  to  force  this  dictation  they  did  not  hesitate 
to  make  the  rate  for  forty  miles  as  much  as,  or  more  than  for 
four  hundred  miles. 

"They  believed  they  had  the  right  so  to  make  their  schedule 
of  rates  as  to  determine  which  of  the  villages  on  their  line 
should  become  centers  of  trade  beyond  their  local  territory. 

' '  They  also  varied  their  schedules  in  such  a  way  that  they  dis- 
criminated in  regard  to  rates  between  individual  merchants, 
manufacturers,  miners,  and  other  business  men,  so  as  practi- 
cally to  determine  which  should  become  prosperous  and  wealthy 
and  which  should  not. 

"This  class  of  discrimination  was  all  the  more  pernicious 
because  done  in  secret." 

The  granger  statutes  were  far  from  perfect,  especially  in 
respect  to  provisions  for  their  enforcement.  But  they  were 
essentially  correct  in  principle  and  reasonable  in  their  terms, 
so  far  as  the  railroads  were  concerned,  and  in  so  far  as  they 
sought  to  regulate  services  and  rates  between  the  public  and  the 
public  service  corporations.  They  were  in  no  sense  "an  un- 
warranted and  irrational  interference  with  the  laws  of  trade 
and  economic  conditions."  They  simply  applied  a  principle 
as  old  as  the  common  law.  They  were  enacted  with  the  pur- 
pose of  enforcing  just  and  equitable  rates  to  individuals  and 
communities.  They  expressed  in  legislation  an  effort  to  escape 
from  that  arbitrary  and  tyrannical  control  on  the  part  of  com- 
mon carriers  so  frankly  described  by  President  Stickney  in  the 
foregoing  quotation. 

This  was  the  first  great  struggle  between  the  railroads  and 
the  public  to  determine  which  should  be  master.  It  was  a  bat- 
tle royal,  and  established  as  the  law  of  this  country  the  right 


Eobert  M.  La  Follette  9 

of  the  people  through  legislation  to  regulate  transportation 
charges  upon  the  railroads  of  the  land. 

The  ability  with  which  the  railroads  conducted  their  oppo- 
sition to  the  granger  legislation  is  interesting  and  instructive 
at  this  time.  It  was  an  indication  of  their  sincerity  and  a 
measure  of  the  value  of  their  representations  with  respect  to  the 
disaster  to  the  railway  business  and  the  industrial  interests  of 
the  country,  which  they  assert  is  certain  to  follow  the  legislation 
now  proposed  in  some  of  the  states  for  state  regulation,  an<i  in 
congress  for  an  enlargement  of  the  powers  of  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission,  as  demanded  by  the  people,  and  sug- 
gested by  the  president  in  his  recent  message  to  congress. 

Upon  the  enactment  of  the  granger  laws,  harrowing  aceoiuits 
of  "Railroad  Costruction  at  a  Standstill/'  of  the  "Collapse  of 
Railroad  Business,"  the  "Spoliation  and  Ruin  of  Railway 
Property"  and  the  "Checking  of  All  Development  in  the 
Granger  States"  were  published  and  re-published  as  tiie  dire 
and  awful  consequences  following  as  a  logical  result  of  that 
legislation. 

Already  the  railway  lobby  assembled  at  Washington  and  in 
the  different  states  is,  at  the  present  time,  uttering  the  same 
warning  cry  of  distress,  through  such  papers  and  periodicals 
as  reflect  the  will  of  railway  managers.  This  is  designed  to 
admonish  all  men  and  all  interests  of  the  train  of  evils  sure 
to  result,  should  the  railroads  be  disturbed  at  this  time  in  cheir 
authority  to  dictate  to  the  people  the  terms  on  which  its  busi- 
ness shall  be  transacted  with  them. 

From  the  enactment  of  the  law  in  Wisconsin  until  its  repeal, 
two  years  later,  when  the  railroads  regained  control  of  the 
legislature,  and  long  after,  the  highest  talent  which  money 
could  command  was  employed  in  assailing  the  Wisconsin  law, 
and  the  laws  passed  in  Illinois,  Iowa  and  Minnesota,  as  well, 
and  in  misrepresentnig  the  effect  of  the  legislation  upon  rail- 
way and  all  other  business  within  the  state.  Reports  as  to  the 
financial  condition  of  the  roads  were  suppressed  or  destroyed, 
and  the  corporations  caused  to  be  published  broadcast  that  not 
only  had  their  business  fallen  off,  but  that  they  had  been 
obliged  to  suspend  all  construction  and  improvements,  and  that 
even  maintenance  of  existing  lines  was  threatened,  while  the 


10  Railway  Regulation 

railroad  business,  and  all  other  business  dependent  upon  it,  was 
prostrate  and  languishing  in  consequence  of  the  legislation 
which  ''violated  all  the  laws  of  trade." 

Even  economic  writers  of  eminence  and  fairness  of  purpose, 
accepting  the  railroad  figures  then  put  forth  and  the  railroad 
conditions  then  reported  by  the  companies,  were  misled  into 
partisan  and  violent  denunciation  of  granger  legislation.  In  all 
of  the  criticism  and  attack  made  at  the  time,  and  since,  it 
seems  almost  incredible  that  no  independent  investigation 
should  have  been  made  by  any  of  the  writers  dealing  with  this 
subject.  This  is  especially  true  of  those  whose  criticisms  should 
have  been  based  upon  thoroughgoing  and  critical  study,  in  con- 
formity with  the  character  of  the  work  then  and  afterwards 
turned  out  by  them  as  authors  and  writers  upon  economic  sub- 
jects. Strangely  enough,  it  is  manifest  that  their  argument 
was  based  upon  false  premises  furnished,  and  misleading  state- 
ments published  by  the  interested  railroad  authorities.  In  so 
far  as  my  research  extends,  I  have  been  unable  to  find  that  any 
one  of  them  ever  made  an  independent,  critical  analysis  of  the 
facts  involved. 

Notwithstanding  all  that  has  been  written  and  the  authorities 
which  may  be  quoted  to  the  contrary,  I  venture  here  to  de- 
clare that,  in  so  far  as  the  granger  laws  were  enforced  in  either 
of  the  four  states,  they  were  helpful  and  not  harmful  to  the  in- 
terests of  the  state  and  of  its  citizens  and  of  the  railway  com- 
panies as  well. 

In  answer  to  the  claim  that  "railway  construction  at  once 
came  to  a  standstill  and  all  work  on  projected  lines  at  once 
ceased,"  I  submit  the  following  comparison  of  the  railroad 
mileage  in  Wisconsin,  Illinois,  Iowa  and  Minnesota,— the 
granger  states,— with  Michigan,  Indiana,  Missouri  and  Ne- 
braska, four  states  which  had  reached  about  the  same  stage  of 
development  as  the  granger  states,  which  were  similarly  situ- 
ated as  to  population  and  general  industrial  conditions,  and 
which  lay  wholly  outside  the  field  of,  and  were  not  affected  by, 
the  so-called  granger  legislation.  These  states  are  selected  for 
comparison  and  consideration  only  after  reaching  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  conditions  prevailing  in  each  at  the  time  were 
such  as  to  render  the  comparison  just  and  fair.     In  order,  how- 


Robert  M.  La  Follette 


11 


ever,  to  broaden  and  verify  the  comparison,  I  have  included  as 
another  group  the  Middle  Atlantic  states,  namely:  New  York, 
New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland  and  West  Vir- 
ginia; also  the  Southern  states,  Kentucky,  North  Carolina,  Ten- 
nessee, South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Florida,  Alabama  and  Missis- 
sippi; and  finally  broadened  that  comparison  to  include  rail- 
road mileage  of  all  the  states  of  the  Union  for  the  years  1871, 
1S72,  1875  and  1880.  The  figures  were  obtained  from  the  va- 
rious state  reports  and  from  Poor's  Manual. 

Number  of  Miles  of  Railroad. 


Years 

Wisconsin 

Wisconsin 

Illinois 

Iowa 

Minnesota 

Michigan 
Indiana 
Missouri 

Nebraska 

Middle 

Atlantic 

States 

Southern 
States 

United 

States 

1871 
1873 
1875 
1880 

1,72.5 
2,360 
2,566 
3,130 

12,401 

.•4,627 
15,515 
19,428 

9,168 
10,932 
11,381 
14,396 

12,030 
13,643 
14,455 
15,949 

12,013 
12,977 
13,287 
14,908 

60,293 
70,278 
74,096 
93,671 

The  Wisconsin  law  was  enacted  in  the  early  part  of  1874 
and  repealed  in  1876.  The  other  granger  laws  were  enacted,— 
Minnesota  in  1871 ;  Illinois  in  1873,  and  Iowa  in  1874.  By  1875 
it  may  fairly  be  assumed  that  the  effect  of  these  laws  was  most 
pronounced  in  all  of  the  granger  states.  The  figures  presented 
show  that  Wisconsin  and  the  other  granger  states  held  their 
own  in  railroad  construction  as  compared  with  the  four  sur- 
rounding Northwestern  states,  the  Middle  Atlantic  states,  the 
Southern  states,  and  the  total  railroad  mileage  of  the  United 
States.  Indeed,  the  granger  states  did  better  than  the  others. 
They  show  a  greater  increase  than  the  neighboring  states,  with 
which  they  may  certainly  very  properly  be  compared.  They 
also  show  a  greater  increase  than  both  the  Middle  and  South- 
em  states,  and  a  relatively  greater  increase  than  the  country 
as  a  whole.  If  we  take  the  mileage  for  1873,  the  year  which 
immediately  preceded  the  legislation  in  Wisconsin,  and  compare 
it  with  the  railroad  mileage  in  1875,  the  last  year  of  the  granger 
period  in  Wisconsin,  we  will  find  the  following  per  cent,  of 
increase:     Wisconsin   alone,   9    per    cent.;    the    four    granger 


12 


Railway  Regulation 


states,  including  Wisconsin,  6.1  per  cent.;  the  four  adjoining 
states,  4.1  per  cent. ;  the  Atlantic  states,  5.9  per  cent. ;  South- 
ern states,  2.4  per  cent. ;  and  the  United  States,  as  a  whole,  5.5 
per  cent. 

It  was  charged  that  the  railroad  industry  was  prostrated  by 
this  legislation.  Examine  the  railroad  earnings  for  these  years. 
I  am  not  able  to  procure  data  for  the  gross  earnings  of  the  rail- 
roads in  Minnesota  or  Nebraska  covering  this  period  of  time. 
For  this  reason  those  states  are  omitted  in  this  comparison,  the 
figures  for  which  were  also  obtained  from  the  various  state 
reports  and  from  Poor's  Manual. 


Total  Gross  Earnings  in  1871-73-75  and  1880. 


Years 

Wisconsin 

Illinois 

Iowa 

Michigan 
Indiana 
Missouri 

Middle 

Atlantic 

States 

Souttiern 
States 

United 

States 

1871 
1878 

1875 
1880 

$54,994,114 

70,027,777 
69,621,065 
86,954,346 

$44,4.33,246 
59,106,865 
54,731,069 
79,038,920 

$147,130,494 
194,052,302 
175,677,418 
199,003,718 

$41,772,102 
53,696,409 
50,399,227 
48,317,754 

$403,329,208 
526,419,935 
503,065,505 
615,401,931 

This  table  discloses  additional  matter  of  great  importance 
to  this  discussion.  We  find  that  the  gross  earnings  decreased 
in  the  granger  states  during  the  period  covered  by  the  granger 
legislation,— that  is,  from  1873  to  and  including  1875  (the 
time  when  the  Wisconsin  law  was  in  force). 

For  the  three  granger  states,  however,  this  was  in  the  trifling 
amount  of  four  hundred  and  six  thousand  dollars.  For  the 
three  granger  states,  Wisconsin,  Illinois  and  Iowa,  the  decrease 
did  not  exceed  one-half  of  one  per  cent.  For  the  adjoining 
states  the  decrease  for  exactly  the  same  period  of  time  amounted 
to  four  million,  three  hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand,  seven 
hundred  and  ninety-six  dollars,  or  to  7.5  per  cent.  The  Middle 
states  show  a  decrease  in  gross  earnings  of  9.5  per  cent.;  the 
Southern  states,  6.1  per  cent. ;  the  whole  country,  4.4  per  cent. 

If  the  granger  legislation  was  responsible  for  this  condition 
of  things,  then  its  operation  was  singular  indeed.  In  the  states 
where  granger  legislation  had  been  enacted,  there  was  no  ap- 
preciable decline  in  gross  earnings. 


Robert  M.  La  Follette  13 

In  other  states,  where  no  such  laws  were  in  force,  the  decline 
in  gross  earnings  was  great;  in  fact,  the  shrinkage  was  from 
ten  to  twenty  times  as  great  as  in  the  granger  states. 

The  showing  on  net  earnings  is  equally  significant.  For  the 
three  granger  states  from  '73  to  '75,  there  was  a  substantial 
increase.  In  the  adjoining  states,  however,  there  was  a  decline 
in  net  earnings  amounting  to  three  per  cent. 

Whatever  depression  existed  in  the  granger  states  during 
this  period  was  not  due  to  legislation,  but  to  the  financial  crisis 
and  panic  of  1873.  The  financial  distress  which  followed  was 
very  severe;  in  fact,  the  depression  was  the  greatest  in  the 
history  of  the  country.  It  began  with  a  panic  in  the  money 
and  stock  markets  and  spread  to  every  operation  in  finance  and 
commerce.  The  depression  which  followed  continued  in  most 
branches  of  business  until  the  end  of  1878. 

AAThen  all  of  the  facts  in  the  case  are  thus  brought  to  light, 
when  we  examine  it  from  every  side,  the  granger  legislation 
takes  on  a  different  aspect  from  that  in  which  it  has  been  made 
to  appear  for  the  last  thirty  years.  The  granger  laws  neither 
stopped  railroad  building  nor  reduced  railroad  earnings.  Had 
the  railroads  met  this  legislation  in  the  spirit  in  which  it  was 
enacted,  discontinued  their  discriminations  and  adjusted  their 
rates  to  the  new  basis,  their  revenues  would  have  been  increased 
under  the  law.  Instead,  they  made  it  their  special  business, 
and  employed  others,  to  attack  the  grangers  and  granger  legis- 
lation violently  and  persistently  year  after  year.  They  made 
the  granger  legislation  responsible  for  every  misfortune  that 
befell  the  roads.  They  made  it  serve  as  a  shield  for  their  own 
mistakes  and  shortcomings.  Although  their  invectives  have  be- 
come well-worn  and  stale,  they  are  still  employed  against  the 
law  designed  to  control  railway  transportation. 

Securing  control  of  the  legislature  in  1876,  as  before  stated, 
the  railroad  companies  repealed  the  Wisconsin  law.  They 
enacted  in  this  state  "a  statute  providing  for  one  railroad  com- 
missioner, with  very  limited  functions,"  as  stated  by  Professor 
Emery  Johnson  in  his  recent  work  on  '*  American  Railway 
Transportation. ' ' 

The  same  campaign  in  Minnesota  resulted  in  a  repeal  of  her 
law  a  year  after  its  passage,  and  the  adoption  of  a  law  instead 


14  Railway  Beg  illation 

providing  for  only  one  commissioner  with  little  more  than  su- 
pervisory power.  In  Minnesota  this  law  remained  in  force  for 
a  decade,  when  a  stronger  law  was  enacted. 

Iowa's  law  continued  in  force  until  1878,  when  a  commis- 
sion was  created  with  limited  powers.  This  statute  was  again 
superseded  in  1888  by  her  present  law,  establishing  a  commis- 
sion with  power  to  prescribe  rates. 

The  Illinois  statute  of  1871  prescribed  maximum  rates  and 
fares,  prohibiting  discriminations  and  establishing  a  commission 
to  supervise  railways  and  assist  in  enforcing  the  laws  for  their 
regulation.  In  1873  the  law  was  adopted  in  Illinois  making  it 
the  duty  of  the  commission  to  prescribe  a  schedule  of  reason- 
able maximum  rates  for  the  transportation  of  passengers  and 
freight. 

It  will  thus  be  observed  that  Iowa  and  Illinois  not  only  main- 
tained the  ground  gained  by  the  granger  legislation,  but  ex- 
tended it  and  fortified  it  from  time  to  time,  while  Wisconsin 
again  came  under  the  dominion  of  the  railway  companies. 
In  these  three  states,  lying  side  by  side,  the  opportunity  is 
therefore  presented  to  apply  the  tests  of  comparison  to  the 
two  systems,  namely,  where  the  states  have  assumed  and  exer- 
cised authority  in  regulating  rates,  and  where  rates  are  fixed 
by  the  railroads  without  state  control.  A  critical  study  of  these 
two  systems  has  been  of  material  aid  in  clearly  defining  the 
issue  with  respect  to  this  important  question  of  Wisconsin. 

For  years  it  has  been  known  in  a  general  way  that  the  people 
of  this  state  were  at  a  great  disadvantage.  Session  after  session 
attempts  have  been  made  to  again  secure  legislation  for  railway 
control  and  regulation.  The  railroads  have,  however,  been 
strong  enough  to  defeat  all  such  measures.  Two  years  ago  the 
results  of  painstaking  investigation  of  transportation  charges 
in  Wisconsin,  in  comparison  with  the  rates  fixed  by  the  state 
commissions  of  Iowa  and  Illinois,  were  presented  and  discussed 
in  the  executive  message  at  the  opening  of  the  legislature.  This 
was  the  first  time  in  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  that  the 
subject  had  been  treated  in  executive  message.  Later  in  the 
session  a  special  message  reviewed  the  entire  rate  situation  in 
Wisconsin,  IlUnois  and  Iowa,  and  recommended  the  enactment 
of  a  law  creating  a  commission,  with  authority  to  control  serv- 
ices and  rates. 


Robert  M.  La  Follette  15 

In  any  comparison  with  Illinois  and  Iowa  rates  it  can  be 
taken  as  conclusive  that  the  transportation  charges  in  Illinois 
and  Iowa  are  high  enough  to  give  the  railroad  companies  at 
least  a  reasonable  profit  upon  the  railroad  business  in  each  of 
those  states.  If  the  rates  afforded  the  railroads  less  than  a 
reasonable  profit,  they  would  at  once  appeal  to  the  courts  to 
increase  the  rates.  It  is  the  settled  law  that  neither  the  legis- 
lature nor  a  commission  created  by  it,  with  power  to  fix  rates, 
can  compel  a  railway  company  to  accept  less  than  a  reasonably 
profitable  rate.  Therefore  by  acquiescing  in  the  commission 
rate  in  Iowa  and  Illinois  without  appealing  to  the  courts,  the 
railroads  admit  the  rates  to  be  high  enough  in  those  states. 

The  facts  submitted  to  the  Wisconsin  legislature  demonstrated 
that  the  producers  and  consumers  of  this  state  were  paying 
freight  charges  at  that  time  ranging  on  the  average  from  twenty 
to  nearly  seventy  per  cent,  in  excess  of  the  rates  paid  by  Illi- 
nois and  Iowa  for  identically  the  same  service. 

A  bill  was  introduced,  providing  for  the  creation  of  a  com- 
mission with  power  to  regulate  railway  service.  The  methods 
employed  by  the  railways  in  opposition  to  this  legislation  are 
not  without  interest.  The  attorneys  of  the  railroad  and  their 
lobby  agents  in  opposing  this  bill  before  the  legislative  commit- 
tee, asserted  that  there  was  no  discrimination  in  freight  charges 
against  the  people  of  this  state,  as  compared  with  those  of  the 
adjoining  states.  They  declared  that  freight  rates  in  Wiscon- 
sin were  just  and  reasonable;  that  there  was  no  favoritism 
shown  shippers,  and  denied  the  payment  of  rebates.  The  legis- 
lative lobby  was  reinforced  by  many  large  shippers  brought  to 
the  capitol  upon  free  transportation,  furnished  by  the  railway 
companies.  Some  of  these  shippers  came  willingly,  because 
they  were  the  recipients  of  rebates  and  transportation  favors 
denied  to  the  public.  Some  small  shippers  who  favored  state 
control  of  railway  rates  came  to  oppose  the  bill  before  the 
legislative  committee,  as  they  informed  me,  because  they  did  not 
dare  refuse,  when  called  upon  by  the  railway  companies.  In 
either  case,  their  presence  was  the  strongest  proof  of  the  power 
which  the  railroads  exercise  wherever  they  have  absolute  con- 
trol of  transportation.  This  opposition  of  the  large  shippers, 
joined  with  that  of  the  regular  railway  lobby,  employing  its 


16  Railway  Regulation 

usual  methods,  secured  the  defeat  of  the  commission  bill  in  the 
legislature  of  1903. 

The  people  of  the  state  were  too  much  interested  and  too  thor- 
oughly aroused  to  permit  the  matter  to  be  disposed  of  in  any- 
such  manner.  The  control  of  railway  services  and  railway  rates 
became  the  paramount  issue.  The  corporations  were  alarmed, 
and  although  they  had  declared  their  rates  to  be  just  and  rea- 
sonable when  before  the  legislature  of  1903,  in  the  midst  of  the 
campaign  which  followed  they  reduced  Wisconsin  rates  from 
time  to  time  upon  such  commodities  as  would  best  serve  in  the 
exigencies  of  the  campaign.  Instead  of  mollifying  the  people 
of  the  state,  however,  this  action  upon  their  part  simply  fur- 
nished evidence  of  the  fact  that  they  had  been  for  years  im- 
posing excessive  rates  upon  Wisconsin  traffic. 

An  investigation  of  the  differences  existing  at  the  present 
time  between  rates  in  Iowa  and  Illinois  and  rates  in  Wisconsin 
establishes  the  following: 
/"  The  average  Wisconsin  rates  on  merchandise  are  nearly  thirty 
per  cent,  higher  than  in  Iowa  for  the  same  service.  The  ave- 
rage rates  upon  grain  in  Wisconsin  are  over  thirty  per  cent, 
higher  than  in  Iowa  and  Illinois  for  like  services.  The  average 
rates  on  live  stock  are  nearly  twenty-four  per  cent,  higher  than 
j  in  Iowa  and  Illinois  for  identically  the  same  service.  If  fur- 
ther testimony  were  required  to  show  the  necessity  of  protection 
in  any  state  against  rate-making  on  the  part  of  the  railroads 
without  state  control,  it  is  furnished  by  the  records  which  the 
railroads  themselves  issue  to  their  stockholders  respecting  their 
earnings  in  Wisconsin. 

The  net  earnings  of  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul  Rail- 
way Company  are  Eleven  Hundred  and  Nine  Dollars  per  mile 
greater  upon  its  Wisconsin  mileage  than  for  the  other  states 
through  which  its  lines  extend.  The  net  earnings  upon  this 
road  in  Wisconsin  in  1904  were  equal  to  six  per  cent,  on  a 
valuation  of  one  Hundred  and  Ten  Million,  Two  Hundred 
and  Sixteen  Thousand  Dollars  on  its  entire  mileage  in  the 
state. 

Under  Wisconsin's  new  law  for  taxing  railroads,  the  Tax 
Commission,  acting  as  a  state  board  of  assessment  but  a  few 
months  ago,  assessed  the  value  of  this  company's  road  in  Wis- 


Robert  M.  La  Follette  17 

consin  at  Seventy  Million,  Two  Hundred  Thousand  Dollars. 
The  represenfatives  of  the  railway  company  appeared  before  the 
commission,  and  protested  against  this  assessment  as  too  high, 
yet  they  levy  a  transportation  tax  upon  Wisconsin  people 
which  produces  a  six  per  cent,  income  upon  a  valuation  of  the 
same  property  of  about  Forty  Million  Dollars  in  excess  of  the 
valuation  fixed  by  the  Tax  Commission. 

The  Chicago  &  Northwestern  [Railway  Company  reports 
Eleven  Hundred  and  Thirty-eight  Dollars  higher  net  earnings 
for  every  mile  of  road  in  Wisconsin  than  it  reports  per  mile 
upon  its  road  in  the  other  states  through  which  its  lines  extend. 
The  net  earnings  of  the  Northwestern  upon  its  total  mileage  in 
this  state  amounts  to  six  per  cent,  on  One  Hundred  and  Twelve 
Million,  Twenty-three  Thousand,  Three  Hundred  and  Sixteen 
Dollars.  The  recent  assessment  of  this  road  in  Wisconsin  by 
the  Tax  Commission  fixes  its  value  at  Seventy-one  Million,  Five 
Hundred  Thousand  Dollars,  or  Forty  Million,  Five  Hundred 
Twenty-three  Thousand,  Three  Hundred  Sixteen  Dollars  less 
than  the  amount  upon  which  the  company  compels  the  people  of 
Wisconsin  to  pay  six  per  cent,  annual  income.  And  yet  the  Chi- 
cago &  Northwestern,  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul,  and 
other  leading  roads  of  Wisconsin  have  joined  in  a  suit  to  set 
aside  the  assessment  of  their  property  as  excessive. 

At  a  very  early  period  in  the  history  of  the  state  the  rail- 
roads had  secured  the  enactment  of  a  law  by  the  provisions  of 
which  they  paid  in  lieu  of  all  taxes  a  license  fee  upon  their 
gross  earnings.  This  law  required  a  sworn  statement  to  be 
filed  by  each  railroad  company  of  their  gross  earnings  in  Wis- 
consin for  the  year.  Upon  this  amount  so  filed,  they  were  re- 
quired by  the  terms  of  the  law  to  pay  a  four  per  cent,  license 
fee.  For  some  time  doubts  had  been  entertained  as  to  whether 
the  railway  companies  were  reporting  for  taxation  the  full 
amount  of  their  gross  earnings.  An  investigation  of  the  rail- 
way companies'  books  and  accounts  was  therefore  instituted. 
This  investigation  disclosed  that  the  railroad  companies  had 
been  systematically  paying  rebates  to  favored  shippers  for  years. 
The  sums  so  paid,  in  violation  of  the  federal  statutes,  were  very 
large,  amounting  in  the  aggregate  to  several  millions  of  dollars. 
It  is  therefore  established  beyond  dispute  by  the  investiga- 

2 


18  Railway  Regulation 

gations  which  have  been  made  respecting  rates,  rebates,  dis- 
criminations and  inequalities: 

That  Wisconsin  rates  are  higher  than  rates  charged  under 
substantially  similar  conditions  in  the  neighboring  states  of 
Iowa  and  Illinois. 

That  rates  charged  in  Wisconsin  on  the  whole  yield  a  net 
income  to  Wisconsin  railroads  greatly  above  the  amount  re- 
quired for  operating  expenses,  maintenance  of  property,  and  a 
fair  profit  on  the  cost  of  the  roads. 

That  the  railway  companies  are  guilty  of  gross  discrimina- 
tions between  persons  and  places  in  this  state. 

If  any  question  can  be  definitely  settled  the  people  of  Wis- 
consin in  the  last  election  declared  for  the  establishment  of  a 
commission  to  control  railway  services  and  railway  rates  on 
state  commerce. 

The  discussion  of  this  issue  was  demanded  in  every  part  of 
the  state.  It  was  thoroughly  understood  and  passed  upon  in 
Senate  and  Assembly  districts,  and  the  Wisconsin  legislature 
of  1905,  obeying  the  instructions  of  their  constituents,  will  write 
upon  the  statute  books  a  law  for  a  mandatory  commission. 

The  same  conditions  which  prevail  in  Wisconsin  with  respect 
to  excessive  transportation  charges  and  discriminations  in  serv- 
ice, both  as  to  individuals  and  places,  prevail  in  every  other 
state  in  the  Union,  where  the  railway  companies  control,  and 
each  state  owes  it  to  the  citizen  to  secure  an  efficient  and  im- 
partial service  at  reasonable  rates  upon  all  state  commerce. 

I  believe  there  would  have  been  a  much  more  insistent  and 
determined  demand  for  state  regulation  if  the  railroad  compa- 
nies had  not  succeeded  in  breaking  down  and  nullifying  the  in- 
terstate commerce  law.  There  has  been  on  the  part  of  the  cor- 
porations a  studied  effort  to  work  into  the  public  mind  a  belief 
that  the  subject  was  too  complicated  and  intricate  for  legisla- 
tion ;  that  the  relation  of  transportation  to  the  business  interests 
of  the  country  were  so  involved,  complex  and  delicate  that  pub- 
lic officials,  representing  the  state  or  national  government,  could 
not  be  trusted  to  approach  it,  much  less  be  clothed  with  author- 
ity respecting  its  regulation.  The  traffic  departments  of  railway 
systems  have  been  surrounded  with  vagueness  and  mystery. 
In  deference  to  the  insistence  here  and  there  manifesting  itself 


Robert  M.  La  Follette  19 

for  some  relief,  there  comes  from  time  to  time  a  clever  intimation 
that  tribunals  might  be  created  to  "hear  complaints  and  make 
suggestions. ' '  But  even  legislation  so  limited,  it  has  been  urged, 
should  be  deferred  for  further  and  more  matured  considera- 
tion lest  the  great  interests  might  be  prejudiced  and  incalucu- 
lable  harm  result. 

The  fact  that  favoritism,  partiality  and  discrimmations  with 
respect  to  communities,  cities,  industries  and  individuals  is 
ruining  business  and  retarding  development  and  growth  locally 
in  many  sections  of  every  state,  the  fact  that  rates  are  con- 
tinually advanced,  that  capitalization  of  many  railway  corpora- 
tions is  undergoing  marked  inflation  from  time  to  time,  and 
that,  in  consequence,  the  people's  business  is  suffering  and 
many  individuals  being  crowded  out,  seems  to  weigh  for  very 
little.  The  fact  that  the  railroads  are  becoming  associated 
with  great  business  interests  inconsistent  with  rendering  im- 
partial service  to  the  general  public,  and  are  the  most  potent 
factors  in  building  up  trusts  and  monopolies  menacing  to  re- 
publican institutions,  counts  for  nothing  against  this  specious 
plea  for  non-interference. 

It  is  further  urged  by  those  seeking  delay  that  the  subject 
is  one  which  should  be  uniformly  treated,  that  the  state  should 
wait  on  congress  and  congress  should  wait  on  the  states.     It 
is   time  that  the  country   awakened  from  its  lethargy.     Uni- 
formity in  legislation  respecting  the  control  of  railway  services 
and  railway  rates  would  be  very  desirable.     So  would  uniform     '. 
divorce  laws,  uniform  banking  and  insurance  laws,  and  uni-      \ 
formity  upon  many  lines  of  legislation.     But  because  consti-       \ 
tutional  limitations  bar  the  way  for  speedy  and  prompt  legis- 
lation, uniform  in  character,  it  does  not  lessen  the  obligation 
of  state  government  to  deal  with  existing  evils  in  the  best  way       \ 
possible  according  to  the  powers  which  it  possesses.     I  believe 
that  it  will  be  a  decided  gain  and  a  truly  progressive  step  in 
the  practical  solution  of  the  problem  for  a  regulation  of  state 
and  interstate  commerce  if  the  state  proceeds  to  do  that  which 
is  clearly  within  its  power.     If  each  state  will  establish  a  just 
and  equitable  regulation  of  rates  and  railway  service  as  applied 
to  state  commerce,  it  will  greatly  simplify  this  subject,  bring- 
ing it  home  to  each  community  and  making  it  a  part  of  th» 


20  Railway  Regulation 

thought  of  the  people  of  each  state.  The  duty  of  regulation 
and  the  specific  method  to  be  employed  will  be  more  easily  and 
definitely  understood. 

The  development  of  all  the  state's  resources,  the  diversifica- 
tion and  interdependence  of  its  industry,  and  the  ready 
and  free  exchange  of  its  commodities  with  an  even,  well 
distributed  growth  in  towns  and  centers  of  population  are  all 
natural  objects  of  special  care  on  the  part  of  a  state  railway 
commission.  It  is  true  that  the  boundaries  of  a  state  are  not 
the  boundaries  of  its  commerce,  although  there  are  always  nat- 
ural tendencies  to  commercial  centers  within  the  state.  While 
it  is  also  true  in  a  qualified  sense,  as  contended  by  the  railroad 
advocates  of  non-interference,  that  they  are  interested  in  the 
development  of  the  resources  of  the  state  in  order  to  increase 
their  business,  it  is  likewise  true  that  their  interests  are  far 
from  identical  with  those  of  the  state.  It  is  of  the  highest  im- 
portance to  the  state  that  there  should  be  many  thrifty  towns 
and  cities  of  moderate  size  well  distributed  over  it.  It  best 
serves  the  interest  of  the  railway  company  that  the  products 
of  the  state  should  be  carried  by  the  long  haul  to  remote  mar- 
kets. And  it  should  always  be  remembered  that  the  railways 
make  artificial  and  arbitrary  regulations  with  respect  to  where 
trade  and  commerce  shall  center,  and  that  such  regulations  are 
made,  not  with  a  view  to  the  best  development  of  every  part 
of  the  state  upon  the  broadest,  social  and  economic  grounds, 
but,  instead,  that  wliich  will  make  the  best  financial  showing 
to  place  before  the  board  of  directors  at  the  end  of  the  year. 
The  same  reasons  which  may  be  urged  for  the  better  protec- 
tion of  domestic  interests  in  other  respects  through  state  gov- 
ernment hold  good  for  the  state  control  of  railway  transporta- 
tion. Independent  of  the  large  field  of  local  work  for  state 
commissions,  their  establishment  might  be  urged  as  one  of 
the  best  expedients  for  securing  early,  definite  and  satisfactory 
action  on  the  part  of  congress  for  proper  control  of  interstate 
commerce.  The  proposed  question,  perhaps,  could  be  presented 
in  more  concrete  form  as  a  state  rather  than  as  a  national 
issue,  and  when  once  the  issue  has  been  clearly  defined  with 
respect  to  the  one,  it  is  easily  carried  over  and  applied  with 
respect  to  the  other.     Definite,  specific  results  in  legislation  at 


Robert  M.  La  Follette  21 

the  state  capital  will  bring  like  results  at  the  national  capital. 
Prompt  action  is  needed  in  every  state  where  legislation  is 
either  wholly  wanting  or  weak  in  character.  Neither  should 
there  be  any  relaxation  of  effort  to  secure  effective  regulation 
of  interstate  commerce.  The  granger  agitation  of  the  Old 
Northwest  states  was  followed  by  the  determined  effort  to  se- 
cure national  legislation.  Today  there  is  a  demand  for  state 
and  national  action  to  bring  public  service  corporations  within 
reasonable  control.  Organization  should  be  made  in  every  state 
for  co-ordinate  action  of  this  important  problem.  There  must 
be  no  delay  with  respect  to  either.  Action  means  advancement 
in  the  right  direction.  A  grave  situation  confronts  the  people, 
calling  for  wise  and  enlightened  consideration,  but  calling  for 
action  promptly. 

Certain  fundamental  principles  are  established.  The  right 
of  the  state  to  act  is  clear.  Comparisons  in  rates  between  states 
where  the  railroads  control  on  the  one  hand  and  where  the 
state  controls  on  the  other,  show  conclusively  that  government 
regulation  gives  decided  advantage  to  the  people  of  those  states 
having  commissions,  even  where  the  laws  are  far  from  perfect, 
or  where  the  railroads  have  come  to  exercise  some  influence 
over  the  action  of  the  commission.  The  experience  in  every 
state  where  legislation  has  been  secured,  or  where  an  attempt 
has  been  made  to  secure  it,  has  been  helpful  in  every  other 
state,  and  in  the  nation  as  well. 

Some  very  important  questions  with  respect  to  the  scope  of 
a  state  law  and  of  the  powers  with  which  a  state  commission 
should  be  invested  have  been  well  and  definitely  settled  by 
experience. 

An  investigation  of  the  laws  of  the  states  which  have  been 
successful  in  creating  effective  commissions  for  the  control  of 
transportation,  offers  valuable  suggestions  and  conclusions  as 
to  the  powers  and  duties  with  which  they  should  be  vested  for 
the  highest  services  in  the  public  interest. 

The  following  are  some  of  the  more  important  provisions 
which  the  result  of  my  research  led  me  recently  to  recommend 
much  more  at  length  to  the  consideration  of  the  Wisconsin 
legislature,  in  their  work  of  framing  a  law  for  the  state. 

A  reasonably  good  service  is  quite  as  important  as  a  rea- 


22  Railway  Regulation 

sonable  cost  of  service.  I  believe  a  commission  should  be  in- 
vested with  power  to  enforce  adequate  and  efficient  service  for 
the  patrons  of  railroads,  always  taking  into  consideration  the 
circumstances  and  conditions  with  respect  to  the  towns,  cities 
and  sections  of  the  state  concerned.  In  furtherance  of  this 
provision,  the  commission  should  have  authority  to  require,  in 
the  interests  of  the  traveling  public,  whenever  the  action  of  the 
corporation  makes  it  necessary,  proper  station  accommoda- 
tions, adequate  train  service  and  reasonable  connections  with 
other  lines.  They  should  be  empowered  to  require  the  fur- 
nishing of  cars  for  the  reasonable  accommodation  of  shippers, 
to  the  end  that  they  may  not  suffer  unnecessary  delay  and  loss 
in  reaching  market.  The  commission  should  have  power  to 
require  reasonable  facilities  for  ascertaining  the  weight  of 
loaded  cars,  thus  preventing  overcharge  and  delays  m  settle- 
ment of  claims.  They  should,  in  short,  be  able  in  all  important 
matters  to  insure  protection  to  the  public  from  the  tyranny  and 
abuse  of  power  on  the  part  of  the  transportation  company. 

State  commissions  should  have  full  authority  to  establish 
rates  and  issue  orders  carrying  them  into  immediate  effect.  If 
the  commission  has  power  to  fix  maximum  rates  only,  the  rail- 
way companies  can  still  unjustly  discriminate  between  ship- 
pers by  making  special  rates  below  the  maximum  rates.  A 
slight  variation  is  sufficient  to  ultimately  consolidate  business 
in  the  hands  of  the  favored  shippers.  If  the  rate  made  by  the 
commission  does  not  go  into  effect  at  once  upon  the  order  of 
the  commission  the  railroad  company  can  destroy  the  value  of 
the  rate  making  power  by  litigation  which*  would  indefinitely 
postpone  the  establishment  of  a  rate  once  made. 

While  the  commission  should  doubtless  be  empowered  to  pro- 
mulgate entire  schedules  of  rates,  they  should  have  discretion 
in  the  exercise  of  this  right,  thus  enabling  the  commission  to 
afford  relief  where  it  is  most  urgently  needed,  and  to  proceed 
with  greater  conservatism  and  caution  than  would  be  the  case 
if  they  were  required  within  a  definitely  prescribed  time  to 
establish  rates  covering  all  classifications  and  all  schedules. 
Some  latitude  in  the  exercise  of  this  power  will  enable  the  com- 
mission to  make  such  rates  as  will  be  maintained  by  the  courts, 
should  appeal  be  prosecuted  by  the  railway  companies  to  test 
the  same. 


Robert  M.  La  Follette  23 

I  am  strongly  of  the  opinion  that  while  it  should  be  the  duty 
of  the  commission  to  investigate  all  complaints,  their  action 
should  not  be  made  to  wait  upon  the  filing  of  the  complaint. 
The  great  body  of  the  people,  who,  in  the  aggregate,  suffer 
the  burdens  and  wrongs  of  excessive  transportation  charges, 
cannot  appear  before  the  commission  and  make  complaints. 
The  consumers  of  coal  and  merchandise  and  special  commodi- 
ties are  the  ones  who  really  pay  the  freight.  They  do  not  deal 
directly  with  the  railroads  and  do  not  pay  freight  to  the  rail- 
way company  at  all.  The  dealer  who  sells  to  the  consumer 
pays  the  freight  in  the  first  instance,  but  charges  the  same 
over  against  his  customer.  The  man  who  buys  lumber,  fuel, 
furnishings,  clothing  and  other  supplies,  is  the  man  who  has 
great  cause  for  complaint.  He,  however,  cannot  make  com- 
plaint. He  never  knows  how  much  of  the  cost  price  of  any  ar- 
ticle purchased  is  an  excessive  freight  charge.  To  limit  the 
action  of  any  commission  to  cases  where  complaint  is  made,  is 
to  practically  destroy  the  value  of  railway  regulation  at  all  for 
the  great  body  of  the  people. 

The  commission  should  be  clothed  with  power  to  enforce 
publicity  in  respect  to  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  public  in- 
terest. Invested  with  this  power  necessity  for  prosecution 
would  much  less  frequently  arise.  Full  knowledge  on  the  part 
of  the  commission  respecting  the  earnings  and  expenses  in  the 
operation  of  railroads  is  essential,  is  a  basis  of  rate-making. 
No  rates  established  by  the  commission  can  be  maintained  in 
the  courts,  if  attacked,  excepting  such  rates  are  reasonable  and 
just  to  the  railway  companies.  To  determine  this  it  is  of  pri- 
mary importance  that  the  commission  should  be  in  possession 
of  all  information  in  detail  pertaining  to  the  capital  invested, 
the  cost  of  operation  and  maintenance. 

One  of  the  most  important  duties  of  a  commission  should  be 
to  protect  the  public  from  the  wrongs  inflicted  upon  it  by 
over-capitalization  on  the  part  of  the  corporation.  The  state 
should  know  the  value  of  its  railroad  properties  and  it  should 
be  unlawful  for  railroad  companies  to  issue  stocks  and  bonds 
without  first  having  established,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  com- 
mission, or  other  authority  representing  the  state,  that  there  is 
full  value  back  of  every  dollar  of  the  obligation  represented 


24  Railway  Regulation 

by  stock  and  bond  issue.  The  people  should  np  longer  be  re- 
quired to  pay  transportation  charges  upon  an  enormous  over- 
capitalization of  the  transportation  companies  which  it  charters 
to  do  business. 

However  perfect  any  state  law  for  the  regulation  and  control 
of  commerce,  it  will  fail  unless  it  be  strongly  enforced.  Hence 
its  success  in  operation  will  depend  entirely  upon  the  commis- 
sion charged  with  its  administration.  The  method  of  selecting 
the  commissioners,  therefore,  becomes  of  the  highest  impor- 
tance. Upon  this  subject  there  is  wide  difference  of  opinion. 
The  result  of  my  own  investigation  and  reflection  leads  me  to 
the  opinion  that  there  are  exceptional  reasons  why  men  better 
qualified  for  the  special  duties  required  of  commissioners  can 
better  be  secured  by  appointment  than  by  election.  The  work 
of  the  commission  in  fixing  rates  must  stand  or  fall,  as  it 
meets  the  tests  which  will  be  applied  in  a  court  of  appeals, 
where  such  work  is  very  certain  to  be  tested.  To  be  sustained, 
rates  must  be  just  and  reasonable  to  the  railway  corporations. 
In  fixing  the  rate,  therefore,  if  the  commission  is  to  do  justice 
to  the  public,  it  must  reduce  the  rate  as  much  as  possible  and 
still  make  it  fairly  and  justly  remunerative  and  profitable  to 
the  railway  companies.  This  requires  a  technical  and  expert 
knowledge  of  traffic  conditions,  and  of  the  cost  of  railway  con- 
struction, maintenance  and  transportation.  Wherever  test  is 
made  in  court  of  the  work  of  the  commission,  they  will  find 
themselves  confronted  by  the  ablest  traffic  experts  in  the  employ 
of  the  great  railway  companies.  They  should  be  able  to  meet 
them  in  so  far  as  possible. 

The  selection  of  men  having  such  qualifications  can  be  more 
certainly  made  by  appointment  than  by  popular  election,  in  the 
midst  of  partisan  feeling  and  excitement  due  to  a  political 
campaign.  Indeed,  it  might  very  easily  transpire  that  one 
wholly  unqualified,  either  as  to  the  possession  of  training  and 
experience,  or  the  qualities  of  mind  to  acquire  expertness  in 
this  important  work,  but  with  popular  elements  of  character 
and  experience  in  campaigning,  would  be  the  more  likely  to 
secure  election  than  one  whose  experience  and  talent  had  fitted 
him  especially  for  this  line  of  work. 

Upon  the  necessity  of  establishing  a  commission  to  protect 


Robert  M.  La  Follette  25 

the  interests  of  the  people  of  each  state,  there  would  seem  to 
be  no  need  of  argument.  The  conditions  themselves  existing 
in  the  states  where  the  control  is  wholly  in  the  hands  of  the 
railway  companies,  and  the  benefits  realized  in  any  state  which 
has  taken  any  steps  whatever  for  such  regulation,  would  seem 
to  be  conclusive.  Every  commonwealth  must  sooner  or  later 
enact  such  legislation.  It  will  be  resisted  by  the  corporations. 
The  widespread  interest  manifested  throughout  the  country 
warrants  the  belief  that  every  state  with  weak  or  imperfect 
statutes  upon  the  subject,  and  such  states  as  have  no  statutes 
at  all,  will  ere  long  adopt  such  legislation  as  will  establish  a 
control  of  railway  service  and  railway  rates. 

INTERSTATE  COMMERCE. 

THE   CONTROL   OF    RAILWAY  SERVICE   AND   RAILWAY   RATES. 

Railway  managers,  with  rare  exceptions,  agree  that  the  pub- 
lic should  have  no  voice  in  regulating  railway  services  or  rail- 
way rates.  Not  all  high  railroad  officials  have  the  same  bold- 
ness to  declare  their  positions  that  Mr.  Milton  H.  Smith,  presi- 
dent of  the  Louisville  &  Nashville  Railroad  Company,  disclosed 
in  testifying,  upon  an  investigation  into  rates  on  his  line  of 
road,  conducted  by  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission.  This 
testimony  was  given  in  a  proceeding  before  the  commission 
prior  to  the  Supreme  Court  decisions  which  deprived  the  com- 
mission of  all  authority  to  determine  as  to  the  reasonableness 
of  the  rates : 

' '  Commission :  We  exercise  no  authority  over  your  road  un- 
til it  has  been  determined  by  investigation  that  the  rate  is  an 
unreasonable  one.  Your  objection  comes  to  this,  that  there 
ought  to  be  no  authority  anywhere  which  has  power  to  inquire 
whether  the  rate  on  the  Louisville  &  Nashville  railroad  is  rea- 
sonable or  unreasonable?  .  .  . 

"Mr.  Smith:     That  is  my  position. 

*     #     * 

** Commission:  Now  let  us  go  back  to  our  question.  That  is 
the  foundation  of  it  all.  Here  are  these  two  points  connected 
by  your  line  of  road  and  by  no  other  line.  You  say  that  the 
government  ought  to  leave  you  and  the  shipper  who  resides 
at  those  places  free  to  contract.  Now,  that  shipper  is  obliged 
to  pay  whatever  you  charore? 


\ 


26  Railway  Begnlation 

"Mr.    Smith:     No. 

' '  Commission :     What  could  he  do  ? 

''Mr.  Smith:  He  could  walk;  he  can  do  as  he  did  before 
he  had  a  railroad  and  as  thousands  now  do  who  have  not 
railroads. ' ' 

Of  course  we  can  ''walk."  If  all  were  compelled  to  "walk" 
it  would  at  least  put  an  end  to  favoritism  and  place  each  indi- 
vidual on  an  equality  with  every  other.  But  that  is  not  what 
President  Smith  proposes.  He,  and  all  other  railway  presi- 
dents allow  Mr.  Rockefeller  to  "ride"  while  his  competitor  in 
business  must  pay  for  himself  and  enough  more  to  help  pay 
for  Rockefeller's  ride.  Whenever  any  shipper  complains,  he 
is  told  to  pay  the  charge  or  walk. 

In  whatever  way  other  railway  managers  have  veiled  their 
designs  by  greater  diplomacy  and  finer  phrasing,  they  have, 
with  a  sole  regard  to  their  own  gain,  given  to  every  community 
in  the  country  good  service  or  bad,  with  discrimination  or  oth- 
erwise, at  as  high  rates  as  they  desired  to  make,  and  the  only 
alternative  offered  to  the  public  has  been,  and  still  is,  to  pay 
up  or  "walk." 

THE   RESULTS   OF   A  PAY    OR 

Under  the  system  a  few  men  have  grown  very  rich,  a  few 
cities  have  been  made  very  great  commercial  centers.  But 
equality  of  opportunity  has  been  destroyed  for  the  individual 
or  the  independent  business  enterprise,  and,  in  thousands  of 
communities,  the  natural  advantages  for  growth  have  been 
nullified,  development  arbitrarily  dwrafed,  and  all  commercial 
activities  limited  to  mere  local  distribution. 

There  would  be  no  Standard  Oil  monopoly  today,  no  meat 
monopoly,  no  coal  monopoly,  no  grain  monopoly,  no  great  com- 
binations filling  the  entire  industrial  field,  and  destroying  all 
industrial  independence  and  freedom,  no  artificial  restrictions 
upon  the  upbuilding  of  cities  and  towns  in  every  state  sacri- 
ficed to  the  making  of  great  markets  at  railway  terminals,— in 
short,  there  would  not  have  been  imposed  upon  the  American 
people  a  system  which  presents  to  this  generation  the  gravest 
problem  that  has  confronted  democracy,  if,— 

(1)  the  federal  government,  in  the  exercise  of  its  lawful  au- 
thority, had,  for  the  last  thirty  years,  fully  discharged  its  duty 


Robert  M.  La  Follette  27 

to  the  people  who  maintain  it,  by  controlling  railway  services 
and  railway  rates  on  all  interstate  commerce,  and, 

(2)  if  each  state  government,  in  the  exercise  of  its  authority, 
had  likewise  fully  discharged  its  duty  to  the  people  who  main- 
tain it,  by  controlling  railway  services  and  railway  rates  on  all 
state  commerce. 

The  control  of  transportation  lines  with  power  to  regulate 
the  service  and  the  rate  is  the  control  of  the  industrial  and 
commercial  life  of  the  people  of  any  community  or  any  country. 

It  is  well  to  recall  again  fundamental  propositions  in  consid- 
ering the  regulation  and  control  of  interstate  commerce. 

The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  has  held  that: 

''The  business  of  a  public  carrier  is  of  a  public  nature,  and 
in  performing  it  the  carrier  is  also  performing,  to  a  certain 
extent,  a  function  of  government." 

Government  may  conduct  the  transportation  business  itself 
as  it  does  in  carrying  the  mails,  and  limited  quantities  of  mer- 
chandise carried  through  the  mails.  The  business  may  also  be 
conducted  by  corporations  such  as  the  railway  companies  char- 
tered by  state  government  and  authorized  to  engage  in  trans- 
portation as  public  carriers.  But  the  investment  of  private 
funds  in  the  construction  of  railways  and  the  conduct  of  the 
business  by  private  corporations  in  no  wise  changes  its  char- 
acter. It  is  still  a  public  service  and  a  function  of  govern- 
ment.    As  declared  by  the  same  court: 

"It  has  never  been  considered  a  matter  of  any  importance 
that  the  road  was  built  by  the  agency  of  a  private  corporation. 
No  matter  who  is  the  agent,  the  function  performed  is  that  of 
the  state.     Though  the  ownership  is  private,  the  use  is  public." 

The  government  has  a  duty  to  perform  in  the  regulation 
and  control  of  railway  transportation,  because  the  service  is  a 
public  service  and  essentially  a  function  of  government.  But 
there  are  other  reasons. 

The  railway  corporation  is  a  natural  monopoly.  Its  lines 
once  established  in  a  given  territory  naturally  excludes  other 
capital  from  investment  in  a  field  which  it  covers.  People  liv- 
ing along  its  line,  and  in  the  country  tributary  to  it,  must 
market  their  products  and  receive  their  supplies  over  its  road. 
They  have  no  choice.  The  government  had  empowered  the 
railway  company  to  take  their  land  on  which  it  has  built  its 


28  Railway  Regulation 

road.  They  must  accept  their  services,  or  they  must  ''walk." 
The  government  has  placed  the  corporation  in  a  position 
where,  uncontrolled,  it  can  tyrannize  over  individuals  and  en- 
tire communities.  It  is  therefore  bound  to  protect  them 
against  any  wrong  or  injustice  at  the  hands  of  its  creatures. 
Nay,  more,  the  government  is  under  obligation  to  see  to  it  that 
the  corporation  performs  its  full  duty  to  all  persons  and  al] 
places,  efficiently,  impartially  and  upon  reasonable  terms.  The 
government  cannot  divest  itself  of  this  responsibility.  One  of 
the  ablest  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  judges,  speaking 
for  that  court,  said: 

''But  a  superintending  power  over  the  highways  and  the 
charges  imposed  upon  the  public  for  their  use,  have  always 
remained  in  the  government.  This  is  not  only  its  indefeasible 
right,  but  it  is  necessary  for  the  protection  of  the  people  against 
extortion  and  abuse." 

STRUGGLE    TO    SECURE    LAW. 

The  duty  which  the  state  owes  to  protect  the  commerce  of 
the  state,  the  federal  government  owes  to  protect  the  com- 
merce of  the  country. 

It  required  a  ten-year  struggle  to  enact  the  interstate  com- 
merce law.  So  powerful  and  effective  was  the  railway  oppo- 
sition in  congress,  the  measure  was  defeated  session  after  ses- 
sion. When  finally  enacted  in  1887,  it  created  a  commission 
of  five  men,  to  be  appointed  by  the  president  with  the  consent 
of  the  senate.  In  this  act  it  is  declared  that  all  transportation 
charges  shall  be  reasonable  and  just  and  that  every  unjust 
and  unreasonable  charge  is  prohibited  and  unlawful;  that  the 
commission  created  by  it  is  authorized  and  required  to  exe- 
cute and  enforce  all  the  provisions  of  the  act;  that  it  shall  in- 
vestigate, inquire  into,  report  and  order  a  discontinuance  of 
all  violations  of  the  law;  that  it  shall  execute  the  law  by  peti- 
tion to  the  court  to  enforce  its  orders,  and  that  the  court  shall 
enforce  all  lawful  orders  made  by  the  commission. 

When  enacted,  it  was  believed  by  congress,  and  throughout 
the  whole  country,  that  the  law  invested  the  commission  with 
authority  to  "supervise  rates,  and  to  issue  orders  and  decrees 
with  respect  to  what  a  rate  should  be."     When  it  became  ap- 


Robert  M.  La  Follette  29 

parent  that  the  enactment  of  the  law  could  no  longer  be  post- 
poned, the  railroads  were  ready  with  ingenious  suggestions  for 
amendment  to  weaken  and  destroy  its  efficiency  and  lay  the 
foundation  for  its  overthrow  in  the  courts. 

ITS    PURPOSE    DEFEATED. 

Under  the  persistent  attack  of  the  railways,  the  authority 
of  the  commission  was  narrowed  by  a  line  of  decisions  which 
the  court  rendered  from  time  to  time.  Finally,  by  1897,  a 
majority  of  the  Supreme  Court  had  decided  that  the  law  was 
not  all  what  congress  declared  it  to  be.  By  judicial  decision 
the  commission  was  deprived  of  all  power  to  supervise  rates, 
or  to  issue  orders  or  decrees  with  respect  to  what  a  rate  should 
be,  and  transformed  into  a  body  merely  authorized  to  hear 
complaints,  take  testimony  and  make  recommendations. 

In  its  report  for  1897,  the  commission  says : 

"As  now  construed  by  the  Supreme  Court,  the  carrier  is 
given  the  right  to  establish  and  charge  these  rates  independent 
of  the  judgment  of  the  commission,  and  independent  of  the 
action  and  judgment  of  any  court  or  other  tribunal;  the  right 
to  establish,  demand  and  receive  unreasonable  and  unjust 
charges  is  not  prohibited;  and  that  in  respect  to  the  charges 
which  may  be  demanded  and  received  for  any  transportation 
service,  the  carriers  are  made  the  judges  in  their  own  cases  as 
to  what  is  reasonable  and  just." 

Thus,  all  that  the  people,  through  congress,  had  been  strug- 
gling to  secure  since  1877,  all  that  they  believed  they  had  se- 
cured through  the  enactment  of  the  interstate  commerce  law 
in  1887,  had  been  practically  swept  aside.  The  victory  attained 
by  the  people  in  congress  had  been  changed  into  defeat  by  the 
railroads  in  the  federal  courts.  The  people  were  just  where 
they  had  started  twenty  years  before. 

appeatj  of  commission  to  congress. 

For  years  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  has  laid  be- 
fore congress  all  the  facts :  the  systematic  increase  in  rates ;  the 
gross  injustice  in  discriminations;  the  utter  helplessness  of  the 
commission  to  afford  relief.  In  its  annual  report  to  congress, 
December,  1897,  the  commission  reviewed  the  Supreme  Court 


30  Railway  Regulation 

decisions  and  made  it  clear  that  there  was  no  power  left  in  the 
law  to  protect  interstate  commerce.  It  urged  in  that  report 
the  necessary  amendments  upon  the  attention  of  congress,  and 
this  has  been  repeated  in  extended  discussion  and  reinforced 
with  recommendations  in  each  annual  report  for  the  last  seven 
years. 

In  1898  the  commission  reported  to  congress  that  there  was 

"no  power,  in  the  judgment  of  the  commission,  or  in  the 
judgment  of  the  court,  to  restrain  a  railroad  company  from 
demanding  and  receiving  unreasonable  and  unjust  charges." 

They  said  further: 

"The  power  of  fixing  and  establishing  reasonable  rates  or 
charges  in  advance  is  the  only  practical  legal  remedy  for  ex- 
tortion and  unreasonable  and  unjust  charges." 

Again,  in  1899,  congress  having  failed  to  act,  the  commission 
said: 

"Every  consideration  of  private  justice  and  public  welfare 
demands  that  the  railway  rates  shall  be  reasonable,  uniform  to 
all  shippers,  and  equitable  between  all  communities.  Until 
needful  legislation  is  supplied  that  demand  must  remain  un- 
satisfied. ' ' 

Again,  in  January,  1900,  the  commission  urged  action,  and, 
among  other  things,  said: 

"The  request  of  the  commission  for  needful  amendments 
have  been  supported  by  petitions  and  memorials  from  agricul- 
tural, manufacturing  and  commercial  interests  throughout  the 
country,  yet  not  a  line  of  the  statute  has  been  changed,  and 
none  of  the  burdensome  conditions  which  call  for  relief  have 
been  removed  or  modified.  ...  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  the 
existing  situation  and  the  developments  of  the  past  year  render 
more  imperative  than  ever  before  the  necessity  for  speedy  and 
suitable  legislation.  We,  therefore,  renew  the  recommenda- 
tions heretofore  made,  and  earnestly  urge  their  consideration 
and  adoption." 

Every  effort  to  pass  a  bill  embodying  the  recommendation 
of  the  commission  to  afford  relief  to  the  overtaxed  commerce 
of  the  country  having  failed,  the  commission,  in  its  next  annual 
report  to  congress  of  1901,  said: 

"The  reasons  for  urging  these  amendments  have  been  care- 
fully explained  and  repetition  of  the  arguments  at  this  time 
can  hardly  be  expected.  .  .  .  Knowledge  of  the  present  condi- 
tions and  tendencies  increases  rather  than  lessens  the  necessity 
for  le^J-islative  action  upon  the  lines  already  indicated,  and  in 


Robert  M.  La  Follette  31 

such  other  directions  as  will  furnish  an  adequate  and  workable 
statute  for  the  regulation  of  commerce  among  the  several 
states. ' ' 

This  important  legislation  having  failed  again  in  1902,  the 
commission  once  more  appealed  to  congress.  Referring  to  the 
defect  in  the  law,  the  commission,  in  this  report,  says : 

"That  this  imperfection  is  curable  is  equally  conceded.  The 
fullest  power  of  correction  is  vested  in  the  congress,  and  the 
exercise  of  that  power  is  demanded  by  the  highest  considera- 
tions of  public  welfare.  .  .  .  The  sense  of  the  wrongs  and  in- 
justice which  cannot  be  prevented  in  the  present  state  of  the 
law,  as  well  as  the  duty  enjoined  by  the  act  itself,  impels  the 
commission  to  reaffirm  its  recommendations  for  the  reasons  so 
often  and  so  fully  set  forth  in  previous  reports  and  before  the 
congressional  committees.  Moreover,  in  view  of  the  rapid  dis- 
appearance of  railway  competition  and  the  maintenance  of 
rates  established  by  combination,  attended  as  they  are  by  sub- 
stantial advances  in  the  charges  on  many  articles  of  household 
necessity,  the  commission  regards  this  matter  as  increasingly 
grave  and  desires  to  emphasize  its  convictions  that  the  safe- 
guards required  for  the  protection  of  the  public  will  not  be  pro- 
vided until  the  regulating  statute  is  thoroughly  revised." 

RE-INFORCED  BY  PRESIDENT  ROOSEVELT. 

Recognizing  the  right  of  the  federal  government  to  regulate 
and  control  interstate  transportation,  and  the  wrongs  and  in- 
justice which  could  not  be  prevented  without  further  legisla- 
tion, President  Roosevelt,  in  his  first  message  to  congress,  with 
respect  to  the  interstate  commerce  law,  said: 

"The  act  should  be  amended.  The  railway  is  a  public  ser- 
vant. Its  rates  should  be  just  to,  and  open  to  all  shippers 
alike.  The  government  should  see  to  it  that  this  is  so,  and 
should  provide  a  speedy,  inexpensive  and  effective  remedy  to 
that  end." 

February  9,  1903,  an  act  relating  to  the  payment  of  prefer- 
ential rates  was  approved.  It  contained  nothing,  however, 
which  could  in  any  way  aid  the  commission  in  affording  protec- 
tion against  unreasonable  and  extravagant  rates.  The  com- 
merce of  the  country  was  still  subject  to  the  levying  of  a  trans- 
portation tax  as  heavy  and  burdensome  as  the  railroad  compa- 
nies were  pleased  to  impose.  Representative  business  men, 
shippers  and  producers,  were  petitioning  congress  and  appear- 


32  Railway  Eegulation 

ing  before  committees,  with  testimony  and  argument,  to  rein- 
force their  prayers  for  relief.  December,  1903,  in  its  annual 
report,  the  commission  again  made  a  strong  appeal  for  legis- 
lation which  would  clothe  them  with  authority  to  establish  a  rea- 
sonable rate.  Referring  to  the  act  of  February  13,  1903,  it 
said: 

"It  has  added  nothing  whatever  to  the  power  of  the  com- 
mission to  correct  a  tariff  rate  which  is  unreasonably  high  or 
which  operates  with  discriminating  effect.  It  greatly  aids  the 
observance  of  tariff  charges,  but  affords  no  remedy  for  those 
who  are  injured  by  such  charges  either  when  they  are  exces- 
sive, or  when  they  are  inadequately  adjusted.  .  .  .  This  is  the 
point  to  which  the  attention  of  congress  has  heen  called.  This 
is  the  defect  in  the  regidating  statute  which  demands  correc- 
tion. In  previous  reports  this  question  has  been  frequently 
and  fully  discussed.  We  have  commented  at  length  upon  the 
weakness  and  inadequacy  of  the  law  as  its  provisions  have  been 
construed  by  our  courts.  We  have  carefully  pointed  out  the 
amendments  which  we  deemed  essential,  and  explained  in  de- 
tail the  reasons  for  our  recommendations.  We  are  unable  to 
add  anything  of  value  to  the  presentation  heretofore  made. 
Our  duty  in  this  regard  has  heen  performed.' ' 

For  seven  long  years  this  broken-down  statute  has  been  be- 
fore congressional  committees,  where,  day  after  day,  arguments 
and  appeals  have  been  made  in  vain  to  secure  action  to  repair, 
in  some  measure,  its  defects. 

As  the  law  was  weakened  and  the  efficiency  of  the  commis- 
sion impaired  by  judicial  decisions  from  time  to  time,  leaving 
the  interstate  transportation  of  the  country  without  regulation, 
railway  rates  became  higher,  railway  abuses  began  to  multiply, 
and  protests  and  complaints  came  from  all  quarters  of  the 
country,  and  from  all  classes  of  industry.  Within  a  year  or 
two  railroad  consolidation  became  marked.  The  railroad  busi- 
ness of  the  country  was  literally  honeycombed  with  discrimi- 
nations in  the  form  of  rebates,  and  transportation  charges  were 
everywhere  generally  advanced. 

ENORMOUS    INCREASE     IN     RATES. 

The  Industrial  Commission,  in  its  report  submitted  to  con- 
gress December,  1901,  after  a  careful  investigation  of  the  sub- 
ject, said : 


Robert  M.  La  Follette  33 

''Summarized,  we  conclude  that  the  advance  in  the  pub- 
lished freight  rates  upon  all  the  railroads  of  the  country  is 
probably  not  less  than  twenty-five  per  cent." 

Powerless  to  restrain  the  railroads  from  imposing  higher 
rates,  powerless  to  prevent  discrimination  in  shipping  charges 
and  facilities  to  favored  interests  and  localities,  the  commission 
could  only,  year  after  year,  set  forth,  in  its  annual  report  to 
congress,  the  gravity  of  the  situation,  and  the  urgent  need  of 
legislation  for  the  protection  of  the  commerce  of  the  country. 
In  its  latest  published  report,  it  is  made  very  clear  that  rates 
have  generally  advanced  in  all  sections  of  the  country. 

The  coal  rates,  the  iron  schedules,  the  rates  upon  grain  and 
its  products,  lumber,  live  stock  and  its  products,  are  generally 
higher  than  four  years  ago,— the  increases  upon  coal  rates  alone 
amounting  to  very  much  more  than  twenty-five  million  dollars 
per  year. 

The  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  has  shown  that  the 
average  rate  per  each  ton  of  freight— not  per  ton,  per  mile- 
was  about  12%  cents  higher  in  the  spring  of  1904  than  in  1899. 
When  the  increase  was  applied  to  the  traffic  of  1903,  it  was 
found  that  it  meant  an  increase  in  gross  earnings,  from  this 
source  alone,  of  over  $155,000,000.  From  this  cause  alone,  the 
gross  earnings  from  the  freight  traffic  in  1903  was  thus  over  13 
per  cent,  greater  than  would  otherwise  have  been  the  case. 
The  gross  earnings  from  freight  traffic  were  $424,282,871 
greater  in  1903  than  in  1899.  Of  this  amount  $155,000,000, 
or  about  36  per  cent.,  were  derived  from  increases  in  the  rates. 

INCREASED  TRAFFIC   AND  IMPROVED   EFFICIENCY  CHEAPENS  COST  OF 

TRANSPORTING. 

No  one  will  question  the  soundness  of  the  proposition  that  as  » 
the  volume  of  traffic  increases  and  the  efficiency  of  transporting 
is  developed  and  improved,  the  cost  is  greatly  reduced,  and 
rates  should  fall  proportionately.  But,  instead,  rates  have 
steadily  advanced,  adding  greatly  to  the  increased  cost  of  liv- 
ing, wrongfully  imposing  burdens,  upon  the  great  body  of  con- 
sumers throughout  the  country. 

The  volume  of  traffic  has  greatly  increased  since  1896. 
3 


34  Railway  Regulation 

In  1897  the  tons  of  freight  carried  one  mile  per  mile  of  road 
amounted  to  519,079.  In  1902  it  stood  793,351.  The  increase 
thus  amounts  to  274,272,  or  about  52  per  cent. 

The  facilities  for  handling  were  greatly  improved,  increasing 
the  number  of  tons  carried  in  each  car,  and  the  number  of 
loaded  cars  in  each  train,  as  well  as  the  capacity  of  engines  for 
moving  larger  loads.  Roadbeds  and  tracks  have  likewise  been 
improved,  and  all  of  the  elements  of  cost  in  transporting 
freight  greatly  reduced.  At  the  same  time  the  cost  of  these 
improvements  has,  as  a  rule,  been  charged  to  operating  ex- 
penses, and  paid  for  in  the  increased  rates  by  the  people. 

In  1897  it  required  1,647  cars  to  carry  1,000,000  tons  of 
freight.  In  1903  it  required  only  1,268  cars  to  carry  1,000,000 
tons  of  freight. 

In  1897  each  locomotive  carried  36,362  tons  of  freight.  In 
1903  each  locomotive  carried  51,265  tons  of  freight. 

In  1897  the  average  number  of  tons  per  freight  train  mile 
amounted  to  204.62.  In  1902  it  amounted  to  296.47.  Here, 
then,  we  have  an  increase  in  the  efficiency  of  the  road  to  han- 
dle freight  that  is  equal  to  about  42  j>ev.  cent. 

With  the  increase  in  the  volume  of  traffic  the  profits  of  han- 
dling the  same  will  be  relatively  very  much  larger,  even  though 
there  is  no  improvement  in  the  facilities  of  transportation. 
But  where  the  facilities  have  all  undergone  the  marked  im- 
provement above  noted  the  profits  are,  of  course,  enormously  in- 
creased. This  proves  to  be  the  case  with  the  railway  compa- 
nies during  recent  years. 

For  the  whole  country  gross  earnings  and  net  earnings  per 
mile  were  as  follows: 

The  gross  earnings  per  mile  were  $6,122  in  1897,  and  $8,265 
in  1902,  an  increase  for  the  period  that  amounted  to  $2,503 
per  mile,  or  to  40.9  per  cent. 

The  net  earnings  per  mile  amounted  to  $2,016  in  1897, 
and  to  $3,084  in  1902,  an  increase  of  $1,032  per  mile,  or  46 
per  cent. 

The  net  earnings  per  mile  in  1897  were  equal  to  6  per  cent, 
on  $33,600.  The  net  earnings  per  mile  in  1902  were  equal  to 
6  per  cent,  on  $50,800. 

We  have,  then,  an  increase  in    the    volume    of    the    traffic 


Robert  M.  La  Follette  35 

amounting  to  52  per  cent.,  an  increase  in  the  efficiency  of  the 
road  to  handle  all  the  traffic  equal  to  42  per  cent.,  with  a  re- 
sulting increase  in  gross  earnings  for  the  period  amounting  to 
40.9  per  cent,  per  mile  of  road,  and  of  the  net  earnings  amount- 
ing to  46  per  cent.  Add  to  this  the  fact  that  the  net  earnings 
per  mile  on  all  the  railroads  of  the  country  equaled  6  per  cent, 
on  a  capitalization  of  $33,600  for  the  year  1897,  while  the  net 
earnings  per  mile  by  1902  had  amounted  to  such  a  figure  as 
would  equal  6  per  cent,  on  $50,800  per  mile,  and  we  have  a 
result,  the  significance  of  which  can  escape  no  intelligent  man. 

Observe,  now,  what  is  definitely  shown  with  respect  to  ad- 
vancing rates. 

The  approximate  average  rate  per  ton  per  mile  was  7.24 
mills  in  1899,  and  7.57  mills  in  1902. 

The  average  revenue  per  freight  train  mile  was  $1.63  in 
1897,  and  $1.79  in  1899,  while  in  1902  it  amounted  to  $2.44. 

EARNINGS  OF  INDIVIDUALS  INCREASED   BUT  SLIGHTLY. 

Whenever  the  public  complains  that  rates  are  unjustly  in- 
creased, we  are  at  once  told  in  sweeping,  though  somewhat 
indefinite  way  that  the  advances  have  been  made  to  meet  in- 
creased expenses  and  higher  wages  paid  to  employes.  The 
corporations  well  understand  the  public  regard  for  all  the  men 
employed  in  this  hazardous  calling,  and  that  such  an  explana- 
tion will  go  a  long  way  to  quiet  criticism. 

It  is  true  that  material  is  somewhat  higher.  It  is  likewise 
true  that  the  companies  are  paying  higher  wages  or  rather 
higher  salaries.  The  total  wages  paid  by  the  roads  of  late 
years  have  increased,  owing  mostly  to  the  increase  in  the  num- 
ber of  men  employed  to  handle  the  traffic  or  business.  But 
the  total  wages  per  mile  of  road  from  1897  to  1902  did  not 
increase  over  32  per  cent.,  which  is  a  much  lower  ratio  of  in- 
crease than  the  increase  in  both  gross  and  net  earnings. 

The  average  daily  rate  of  wages  per  each  person  also  in- 
creased, but  in  this  case  the  increases  were  comparatively 
small,  except  for  the  officers  of  the  road,  for  whom  substantial 
increases  may  be  noted.  The  average  increase  per  person, 
outside  of  the  officers,  does  not  exceed  five  per  cent.  This  in 
plain  from  the  following  table: 


36 


Railway  Regulation 


Average  per  cent,  of  increase  in  wages  on  all  the  railroads  in 
the   United  States  from  1897  to  1902 ^  inclusive: 


Classification 


General  officers 

Other  officers 

Gen.  office  clerks  (no  in- 
crease)...  

Station  agents 

Other  station  men 

Enginenien 

Firemen 

Conductors 

Other  trainmen 

Machinists 

Carpenters 


Per 

Cent. 


17.08 
9.37 


4.04 
.61 

5.20 
7.31 
4.56 
7.36 
5.82 
3.48 


Classification 


Other  shopmen 

Section  foreman, 

Other  trackmen 

Switch    tenders,     crossing 

tenders  and  watchmen... 
Telegraph     operators    and 

dispatchers 

Employes  —  acct.    floating 

equipment 

All    other    employes    and 

laborers 


Per 
Cent. 


4.09 
1.17 
7.75 

2.90 

5.78 
7.52 
4.26 


It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  table  that  the  increase  in 
wages  means, — outside  of  high  salaried  officials  and  a  small 
addition  ranging  from  one  per  cent,  to  seven  per  cent,  in  the 
wages  of  all  other  employes, — simply  a  larger  total  amount 
paid  out  as  wages  owing  to  the  employment  of  a  larger  num- 
ber of  men  to  handle  the  great  increase  in  the  volume  of  the 
traffic. 

RATES   WILL    GO    HIGHER. 


No  student  of  the  railway  problem  can  fail  to  comprehend 
the  deep  significance  of  the  power  which  unrestricted  control 
of  transportation  enables  railways  to  exert  upon  the  industrial 
and  commercial  life  of  the  people  of  every  state  in  the  Union. 

The  railroads  are  not  only  able  to  maintain  their  present 
high  rates,  but  can  at  their  pleasure  continue  to  advance  them 
until  the  charge  is  as  high  as  the  traffic  will  bear.  Unless  con- 
trolled, this  is  what  they  will  do.  It  is  but  little  more  than  two 
months  since  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  was  called 
to  Chicago  to  hear  protests  of  shippers  against  having  forced 
upon  them,  under  cover  of  a  uniform  bill  of  lading,  an  increase 
in  freight  rates  which  would  have  amounted  to  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  million  dollars  at  one  stroke.  There  is  now  no 
competition  to  restrict  railroads  in  any  degree.     Consolidation 


Robert  M.  La  Follette  37 

has  completely  destroyed  all  competition  in  rate-making.  While 
competition  was  never  effective  as  a  regulator  of  rates,  it  for- 
merly had  some  restraining  influences.  Often  it  has  reduced 
rates.  In  other  cases  it  has  prevented  rates  from  becoming 
extortionate.  This  was  more  particularly  true  of  lines  be- 
tween great  traffic  centers.  For  the  greater  number  of  inter- 
mediate stations  on  independent  lines,  there  could  be  no  direct 
competition  whatever. 

In  more  recent  years  railway  managers  had  been  working  to 
eliminate  competition  even  before  the  new  plan  of  consolida- 
tion was  devised.  They  were  quick  to  discover  that  railroads 
are  monopolies,  and  that  competition  between  them  differed 
from  competion  in  other  lines  of  business.  The  advantages  of 
maintaining  rates  were  seen,  and  the  roads  early  made  con- 
tracts for  a  division  of  the  traffic,  or  for  the  earnings  between 
competitive  points.  This  was  called  pooling.  In  1887  pooling 
was  prohibited  by  the  interstate  commerce  law.  An  effort  to 
evade  the  interstate  commerce  law  was  then  made  by  the  roads 
entering  into  traffic  agreements.  These,  also,  were  declared 
illegal  by  the  Supreme  Court  in  1897. 

CAPTURE  OF   THE   HIGHWAYS  OF   COMMERCE. 

We  come  now  to  the  great  master  stroke  for  the  absolute 
control  of  the  highways  of  commerce  and  trade  by  the  consoli- 
dation of  the  railroads  of  the  country  under  what  is  called  the 
''community  of  interest"  plan.  Under  this  plan  practically  the 
entire  vital  railroad  mileage  of  the  country  has  passed  under 
the  control  of  six  groups  of  financiers,  each  group,  in  large 
measure,  controlled  by  one  man.  The  effect  upon  railway  in- 
terests and  the  public  has  been  tremendous. 

In  order  to  convey  some  idea  of  the  enormous  combinations 
which  have  been  formed  in  the  railroad  world  and  of  the  un- 
limited power  thereby  centered  in  the  hands  of  a  few  indi- 
viduals, the  following  statement  is  submitted.  The  figures  in 
this  case  have  mostly  been  taken  from  Moody's  Manual  of 
Corporations. 


38 


RaUiimy  Regulation 
The  Six  Great  Groups. 


Classification 

Number  of 

roadB 
embraced 

Mileage  of 
each 
group 

Capitalization 

of 

each  group 

Vanderbilt  group  

132 

280 

225 

109 

85 

91 

21,888 
19,300 
47,206 
28,157 
22,943 
25,092 

$1,169,196,132 

Pennsylvania  group 

1,822,402,235 

Morgan-Hill  group 

2,265,116,359 

Gould- Rockefeller  group 

1,368,877,540 

Harriman-Kuehn-Loeb  group 

Moore-Leeds  group 

1,321,243,711 
l,059,2c0,939 

Total  

922 
250 

164,586 
13,721 

$9,006,086,916 

Allied  Systems 

380,277,000 

Total  under  control 

1172 

178,307 

$9,386,363,916 

The  disclosures  of  this  statement  are  positively  startling. 
Nearly  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  total  railroad  mileage,  represent- 
ing, in  fact,  almost  all  of  the  principal  commercial  highways 
of  the  country,  are  controlled  by  six  sets  of  financiers  with  an 
identity  of  interests,  which,  in  effect,  makes  a  single  control. 
Need  we  marvel  that  the  present  rates  are  not  only  unreason- 
ably high,  but  that  they  are  being  advanced  from  time  to  time  ? 
From  time  to  time  the  rates  go  up  whenever  this  bold  and 
powerful  tax-gatherer  chooses  to  increase  the  levy. 

The  logical  results  of  this  consolidation  must  be  obvious  to 
all.  The  entire  country  has  been  partitioned  and  apportioned 
between  these  great  railway  groups.  It  is  indeed  a  great 
conquest.  Each  group  dominates  its  own  territory.  With 
agreements  as  to  classifications,  rates  and  division  of  traffic, 
the  railway  business  has  ceased  to  be  a  competitive  business. 
The  railway  business  of  this  country  has  become  a  monopoly 
in  fact.  This  monopoly  controls  transportation  and  transporta- 
tion charges  on  interstate  commerce  and  upon  state  commerce, 
excepting  where  states  have  provided  for  state  control. 

It  was  claimed  for  this  consolidation  that  it  would  reduce 
expenditures,  increase  efficiency  and  in  every  way  aid  the  eco- 
nomics of  railway  traffic.  It  was  affirmed  that  this  was  the 
only  purpose  of  consolidation.  Whenever  investigations  con- 
ducted by  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  touched  this 
system  at  any  point,  railway  managers  were  loud  in  their  pro- 
testations that  the  public  would  share  in  the  benefits  arising 


Rohert  M.  La  Follette  39 

from  the  changes  which  were  only  administrative  in  their  char- 
acter and  with  manifestations  of  indignation,  from  time  to 
time,  they  resented  any  implication  that  such  consolidation 
was  for  the  purpose  of  ''extortion"  and  "abuse."  The  in- 
sincerity of  these  expressions  are  exposed. 

HOW    THEY   LEVY    TRIBUTE. 

In  their  last  volume  of  published  reports,  the  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission  records  the  following: 

''One  of  the  most  significant  things  in  recent  railway  opera- 
tions is  the  steady  advance  in  the  cost  of  transportation  of 
freight  by  rail.  A  few  years  ago  the  impression  was  general 
that  freight  rates  could  not  and  would  not  be  advanced.  Rail- 
way traffic  officials  frequently  affirmed  this  in  testimony.  When 
the  commission  had  under  consideration  certain  consolidations 
of  railway  property,  the  eminent  gentlemen  who  brought  them 
about,  stated,  under  oath,  that  the  purpose  was  not  to  advance 
but  rather  to  reduce  rates.  Recent  history  belies  this  pre- 
diction. ' ' 

Of  these  advances  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission 
says: 

"The  rates  upon  these  commodities  which  constitute  the 
bulk  of  interstate  traffic  have  been  advanced  in  nearly  all  sec- 
tions. .  .  .  What  the  total  amount  of  increase  from  all  these 
causes  has  been  cannot  be  said  with  any  degree  of  certainty. 
The  advances  have  usually  been  small  as  applied  to  a  single  ton 
or  a  single  hundred  pounds,  and  it  is  difficult  to  form  any  ade- 
quate comprehension  of  their  tremendous  significance  in  the 
aggregate.  The  increase  of  but  ten  cents  per  ton  in  the  coal 
rates  in  the  entire  country  would  mean  more  than  twenty-five 
million  dollars  annually,  and  the  actual  advance  has  been 
much  more  than  this.  ..." 

When  the  rates  on  lines  in  different  systems  go  up  in  exactly 
the  same  amount  at  exactly  the  same  time,  it  smacks  pretty 
strongly  of  conspiracy.  Respecting  these  unjustifiable  advances, 
the  commission  makes  the  following  observation: 

"They  have  been,  almost  without  exception,  the  result  of 
concerted  action.  ...  It  is  idle  to  say  that  where  such  condi- 
tion exists,  where,  for  example,  every  one  of  the  numerous 
lines  transporting  grain  from  Chicago,  St.  Louis  and  kin- 
dred points  to  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  advance  their  rates  upon 
the  same  day  and  by  precisely  the  same  amount,  there  has  been 
no  understanding  between   companies." 


40  Railway  Regulation 

After  noting  the  wide  range  and  extent  of  these  advances, 
and  the  heavy  burdens  which  they  everywhere  impose  upon 
the  producers  and  consumers  of  the  country,  the  commission 
says  further: 

"The  freight  rate  has  been  properly  termed  a  tax  imposed 
for  the  benefit  of  the  carrier  rendering  the  service.  The  effect 
of  this  advance  has  been  to  enormously  increase  the  tax  laid 
upon  the  general  body  of  producers  and  consumers  for  the 
benefit  of  that  species  of  property  which  renders  the  service." 

It  is  evident  that  this  great  railway  combine  is  using  its 
enormous  powers  unsparingly,  not  only  over  roads  and  traffic 
conditions,   but   over   industrial   conditions   generally. 

RAILWAY     COMBINATION    REACHING    OUT. 

Consider  what  they  have  done.  By  consolidation  nine  hun- 
dred and  twenty-two  different  roads  and  nearly  half  a  hundred 
different  railway  systems  have  been  merged  into  six  greater 
systems,  reaching  out  with  their  network  of  lines  into  the  re- 
motest sections  of  the  lands.  Their  interests  are  now  joined. 
Their  action  is  harmonious.  Their  purpose  is  a  common  one. 
They  direct  the  movements  of  commerce  and  trade.  They  de- 
termine where  its  lines  shall  converge.  They  make  the  great 
commercial    centers. 

But  why  should  consolidation  stop  with  the  consolidation  of 
railway  lines?  Why  should  control  stop  with  the  control  of 
transportation?  Why  not  control  great  industries?  Why  not 
control  markets,  and  fix  prices  to  consumers?  Consolidation 
and  control  of  transportation  systems  is  the  base  on  which  to 
build  up  a  greater  system.  Observe  its  progress.  Observe 
the  identity  in  interest  and  ownership  which  is  beginning  to 
appear  between  the  Standard  oil,  steel,  coal,  meat  and  other 
monopolies  and  the  great  railway  systems  of  the  country. 

With  the  railway  systems  commanding  all  the  highways,  the 
alliance  was  an  inevitable  one.  The  railways  consolidated  into 
big  groups,  favored  big  shippers  with  millions  in  rebates,  ex- 
acted in  higher  charges  from  rivals  and  from  the  consumers  at 
large.  The  consolidation  was  breeding  its  own  kind.  The 
masters  of  the  highways  were  entering  the  industrial  fields. 
They  owned  the  coal  trust;  they  were  taking  on  iron  and  steel. 


Robert  M.  La  FolleUe  41 

The  captains  of  industry,  controlling  pipe  lines  and  transports, 
were  hungering  for  a  share  in  the  highways  to  market.  For 
long  years  they  have  been  partners  in  the  criminal  violation  of 
the  statutory  and  common  law.  The  field  was  enlarging.  The 
country  was  entering  upon  a  new  era  of  expansion.  The  con- 
sumers" were  multiplying.  If  the  railways  were  to  control  the 
highways,  the  alliance  was  inevitable.  The  trusts  were  com- 
ing in  under  the  system. 

RxilLWAY     CONSOLIDATION    AND    MONOPOLY. 

The  motives  which  promoted  consolidation  of  the  railways  of 
the  country  into  six  great  groups,  operates  with  powerful  effect 
in  concentrating  shipments  in  a  few  hands,  with  a  view  to  large 
traffic  transactions.  A  rate  slightly  to  the  advantage  of  one 
company  must  ultimately  give  the  favored  concerns  all  of  the 
business. 

As  an  abstract  economic  proposition  it  may  be  true  that  in- 
creased profits  in  the  hands  of  a  few  shippers  may  allow  larger 
development  than  under  conditions  where  the  business  is  di- 
vided, but  it  is  certainly  harmful  to  any  community  from 
social  or  economic  consideration.  Wealth  may  be  more  rap- 
idly accumulated  when  one  individual  or  a  combination  of 
individuals  secure  a  monopoly  of  the  business  of  any  town  or 
city,  but  the  thrift  and  prosperity  of  every  community  de- 
pend upon  a  general,  even  though  moderate  succcess  coming  to 
the  largest  possible  number.  The  railroad  prefers  to  deal  with 
large  shippers,  and  it  encourages  centralization  in  business.  It 
has  a  contempt  for  the  small  dealer.  It  cannot  see  the  indi- 
vidual. It  is  looking  for  tonnage.  Big  deals  in  traffic  appeal 
to  it.     It  creates  and  nourishes  trusts  and  combinations. 

I  invite  attention  to  some  examples  of  the  methods  employed 
by  the  railroads  to  consolidate  shipping  resulting  in  the  crea- 
tion of  monopolies.  These  facts  have  been  obtained  from  offi- 
cial reports  and  other  reliable  publications. 

ANTHRACITE    COAL    MONOPOLY. 

The  second  most  important  product  of  the  earth  is  coal.  The 
supply  is  severely  limited.     There  is  absolutely  nothing  to  take 


42  Railimy  RegulaUon 

its  place  for  the  purpose  of  fuel  and  power  in  the  world.  The 
entire  wood  supply  could  last  but  a  very  short  time.  The  an- 
thracite or  hard  coal  of  the  United  States  is  limited  to  484 
square  miles.  The  Industrial  Commission  reported  that  nine- 
tenths  of  the  entire  supply  has  passed  from  the  hands  of  pri- 
vate owners  into  the  posssession  of  eight  railway  companies 
which  act  together  in  restricting  the  output  and  keeping  up 
the  price.  The  lines  of  these  eight  railways  furnish  the  only 
available  means  for  transporting  anthracite  coal  to  market. 
In  pursuit  of  a  settled  policy  these  railroad  companies  have 
forced  private  owners  to  sell  their  coal  mines  for  half  their 
value.  This  was  accomplished  by  increasing  the  freight  rates 
and  by  refusing  cars  to  carry  coal  for  private  owners  when- 
ever such  owners  could  not  be  brought  to  terms  by  the  estab- 
lishment of  exorbitant  transportation  rates. 

To  prevent  the  consummation  of  this  iniquity,  the  people  of 
Pennsylvania,  in  1873,  adopted  a  constitutional  provision  to 
prohibit  common  carriers  from  mining  or  manufacturing  arti- 
cles for  transportation  over  their  lines,  or  from  buying  lands, 
excepting  such  as  should  be  required  for  the  operation  of  the 
railroad.  In  defiance  of  this  provision  of  the  constitution, 
these  railroads  pursued  their  settled  policy  of  forcing  the  mine 
owners  to  sell  their  lands  to  the  companies,  and  of  acquiring 
such  lands  solely  for  mining  purposes,  and  of  conducting  min- 
ing operations  throughout  the  Pennsylvania  coal  fields,  not 
only  in  anthracite,  but  in  bituminous  coal  as  well. 

After  acquiring  the  monopoly  of  the  anthracite  coal  fields, 
owning  the  coal  and  owning  the  railroads  over  which  the  coal 
is  transported  to  market,  they  fixed,  and  have  ever  since  main- 
tained, the  freight  rates  at  an  exorbitant  figure  in  order  to 
make  the  consumers  throughout  the  country  pay  dividends  on 
the  over-capitalization  of  both  the  railroads  and  the  coal  mines. 
Freight  rates  today  on  anthracite  coal  are  three  times  as  high 
as  on  bituminous  coal. 

This  coal  trust  bears  harder,  even,  upon  the  unfortunate  and 
helpless  laborer  that  mines  the  product  at  the  wage  level  of  a 
generation  ago  than  upon  the  consumers,  who  are  just  begin- 
ning to  feel  the  burden  of  its  increasing  oppression.  Its  utter  in- 
difference  and  contempt   for   constituional   and   statutory  law 


Robert  M.  La  Follette  43 

and  for  public  opinion  should  awaken  in  the  people  of  this 
country  the  spirit  that  framed  the  declaration  of  independence 
and  founded  the  government  in  which  the  will  of  the  people 
should  be  supreme. 

MONOPOLY  IN  GRAIN  BUYING. 

That  the  railroads  manipulate  elevator  combinations,  con- 
trolling the  grain  market,  has  been  well  understood  for  many 
years.  From  time  to  time  conclusive  evidence  of  the  existence 
of  such  combinations  have  been  obtained.  Effort  has  been 
made  to  weaken  the  force  of  such  testimony,  and  special  ex- 
cuses have  been  offered  in  particular  instances  in  attempts  to 
break  the  effect  of  such  evidence. 

The  United  States  exports  annually  enormous  quantities  of 
grain,  but,  says  Judge  Prouty  of  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission :  ' '  One  can  count  upon  his  fingers  the  concerns 
which  bring  the  bulk  of  it  to  the  American  seaboard." 

Grain  upon  the  Chicago  market  is  handled  by  half  a  dozen 
concerns.  It  is  brought  from  the  fields  to  Chicago  by  as  few 
men.  One  company  buys  upon  one  line  of  railroad.  Nobody 
else  can  buy  there.  Another,  upon  another  line.  One  com- 
pany alone  does  the  buying  on  each  road.  The  methods  of  dis- 
crimination adopted  by  the  railroads  are:  (1)  barefaced 
cash  money  payments;  (2)  elevator  commissions;  (3)  excessive 
car  mileage  similar  to  the  discrimniations  in  the  packing  house 
products;  (4)  sometimes  a  shipper  will  pay  the  full  interstate 
rate  in  consideration  that  he  shall  receive  preferential  rates 
on  traffic  within  the  different  states. 

Mr.  A.  B.  Stickney,  president  of  the  Chicago  Great  West- 
ern Railway,  is  authority  for  this  statement  respecting  the 
granting  of  favors  to  the  large  grain  dealers:  "If  all  who 
have  offended  against  the  law  were  convicted,  there  would  not 
be  jails  enough  in  the  United  States  to  hold  them." 

The  importance  of  a  very  slight  rebate  in  the  grain  business 
is  seen  when  the  margin  of  profit  is  known.  A  representative 
of  Armour  &  Co.  testified  before  the  Industrial  Commission 
that  the  difference  of  one-sixteenth  of  a  cent  per  bushel  will 
determine  where  the  grain  will  go. 


44  Railway  Regulation 

The  Industrial  Commission  reports  that  the  terminal  grain 
elevators  at  Chicago  are  owned  by  comparatively  few  men  or 
firms.  It  says  further  that  the  owners  of  the  large  public 
elevators  also  engage  in  buying  and  selling  grain.  These  large 
grain  elevator  companies  also  own  practically  all  of  the  ele- 
vators along  the  lines  and  at  the  terminals  of  each  railway 
system. 

The  weight  of  the  testimony  taken  by  the  Industrial  Com- 
mission shows  that  the  grain  business  is  substantially  in  the 
hands  of  five  large  dealers  operating  over  eight  western 
railroads.     They  are: 

Rock  Island  R.  R.,  Charles  Councilman ;  Northwestern  R.  R., 
Bartlett,  Fraser  Co.,  and  Peavy  Elevator  Co. ;  C,  B.  &  Q.  R.  R., 
and  the  C,  M.  &  St.  P.  R.  R.,  Armour  &  Co. ;  Santa  Fe  R.  R., 
M.  Richardson;  Union  Pacific  R.  R.,  and  others,  Peavy  Ele- 
vator Co. 

In  a  investigation  prosecuted  by  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commision,  they  found  and  reported  in  1902  that  the  monopoly 
of  grain  buying  is  conferred  by  the  railroad  companies  on  some 
particular  party  with  the  excuse  that  it  is  the  effect  of  competi- 
tion.    Respecting  this  the  commission  says: 

"While  the  investigations  of  the  committee  have  not  fully 
covered  this  aspect  of  the  case  as  yet,  it  is  a  matter  of  common 
information,  and  we  know  from  repeated  complaint  received, 
that  some  one  firm  or  some  one  individual  purchases  substan- 
tially all  of  the  grain  which  is  handled  by  a  given  line  of  rail- 
way, and  the  claim  is  made,  and  the  inference  is  almost  a  nec- 
essary one,  that  this  firm  or  individual  must  receive  concessions 
which  enables  him  to  underbid  other  buyers  in  the  same  mar- 
ket." 

They  say  further  in  conclusion  upon  this  subject: 

"At  the  present  time  grain  and  grain  products  move  from 
points  of  origin  to  the  seaboard  generally  upon  secret  rates. 
This  is  entirely  true  of  that  portion  which  is  exported,  and,  in 
the  main,   true  of  domestic  traffic." 

Under  this  system  the  producer  of  grain  is  compelled  to  sell 
his  product  in  a  market  where  prices  are  fixed,  not  by  the  law 
of  supply  and  demand,  but  by  the  arbitrary  will  of  the  favored 
elevator  company,  which,  in  combination  with  and  through  the 
favoritism  of  the  railway  company,  is  in  a  position  to  dictate 
market  prices. 


Eolert  M.  La  Follette  45 

For  reasons  best  known  to  the  railway  managers,  they  like- 
wise discriminate  against  the  milling  interests  of  thi^  country 
and  carry  grain  for  export  at  a  rate  which  is  operating  to  de- 
stroy the  milling  business  of  the  country.  Formerly,  the  mill- 
ing was  done  here  and  the  product  mostly  exported  in  the 
finished  form.  The  grain  trust  appealed  to  the  railroads. 
Immediately  rates  were   readjusted. 

"In  1900,  the  aggregate  of  flour  exported  was  96  per  cent, 
of  the  entire  export  of  wheat;  in  1901,  it  had  dropped  from 
96  per  cent,  to  55  per  cent.,  owing  to  the  discrimination 
practiced. ' ' 

April  10  ,1902,  it  was  stated  before  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  by  Mr.  Eckhardt, 
representing  the  Chicago  Board  of  Trade: 

"That  it  is  unfair  and  unjust  to  the  great  industries  of  this 
country  to  compel  us  to  pay  a  tariff  rate  of  171/2  cents  a  hun- 
dred on  flour  from  Chicago,  for  instance,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
to  carry  wheat  on  a  secret  cut  rate  of  from  eight  to  ten  cents 
per  hunder  pounds.  It  practically  means  confiscation  of  so 
much  milling  property." 

It  was  further  stated  that  the  milling  capacity  of  this  coun- 
try is  sufficient  to  grind  up  all  the  wheat  produced  in  the 
country  in  five  months.  "With  the  railrods,  masters  of  rate- 
making,  the  milling  property  located  in  thirty-three  different 
states  of  the  country,  is  to  stand  idle,  while  the  railways  and 
large  elevator  companies  in  combination  work  out  some  division 
respecting  traffic,  profitable  alike  to  both. 

RAILV^AYS  PROMOTE  MEAT  TRUST. 

The  meat  monopoly  of  today  had  its  origin  in  the  "Evener 
Combination,"  which  was  organized  in  1873.  The  "Evener 
Combination"  was  formed  upon  an  agreement  made  between 
the  ''Big  Four,"  consisting  of  Armour  &  Co.,  Swift  &  Co.,  Nel- 
son Morris  &  Co.,  and  Hammond  &  Co.,  and  the  three  great 
traffic  lines  running  from  Chicago  to  New  York.  These  roads, 
the  Pennsylvania,  New  York  Central,  and  Erie,  agreed  to 
charge  $115  for  each  carload  of  cattle  shipped  over  their  lines 
from  Chicago  to  New  York,  and  to  allow  "certain  shippers" 
in  Chicago  $15  of  this  amount  on  each  carload  of  cattle  so 
shipped. 


46  Railway  Regulation 

The  result  was  the  destruction  of  the  St.  Louis  cattle  mar- 
ket, which  before  that  time  had  been  in  a  very  prosperous  con- 
dition, and  the  concentration  of  the  trade  in  Chicago,  where  it 
has  since  remained.  Says  the  report  of  the  committee  ap- 
pointed by  congress  to  investigate  this  industry  in  1900: 

''The  inevitable  e:ffect  of  this  combination  which  gave  a  pre- 
mium of  $15  a  car  upon  all  cattle  shipped  Chicago  east 
was  to  concentrate  the  marketing  of  all  western  cattle  at 
Chicago. ' ' 

During  the  five  years  between  1873  and  1878,  the  business 
of  the  "Big  Four"  grew  so  rapidly  that  at  the  end  of  that 
period  they  had  practically  monopolized  the  entire  cattle  busi- 
ness.    The  "Evener  Combination"  terminated  in  1878-9. 

When  the  "Evener  Combination"  disappeared,  the ''Dressed 
Beef  Combination"  took  its  place.  This  combination  was  or- 
ganized to  control  the  market  on  beef  products,  forcing  down 
the  price  of  live  stock  purchased  from  the  producer,  and  forc- 
ing up  the  price  of  the  meat  product  sold  to  the  consumer. 
While  this  organization  originally  comprised  but  four  of  the 
great  packing  houses  of  Chicago  engaged  in  purchasing  and 
slaughtering  beeves,  they  broadened  and  extended  the  combi- 
nation so  that  the  markets  on  all  meat  products  have  been 
brought  into  subjection  and  control.  The  congressional  com- 
mittee, investigating  this  subject  in  1890,  after  a  protracted 
session  in  St.  Louis  and  Chicago,  stated  in  their  report: 

"So  far  has  the  centralizing  process  continued,  that,  for  all 
practical  purposes,  the  market  of  Chicago  dominates  absolutely 
the  price  of  beef  cattle  in  the  whole  country.  Kansas  City,  St. 
Louis,  Omaha,  Cincinnati  and  Pittsburg  are  subsidiary  to  the 
Chicago  market,  and  their  prices  are  regulated  and  fixed  by 
the  great  market  on  the  lake." 

They  say  further: 

"We  have  no  hesitation  in  stating  as  our  conclusion  from 
all  the  facts,  that  a  combination  exists  between  the  principal 
dressed  beef  and  packing  houses  which  controls  the  markets 
and  fixes  the  price  of  beef  cattle  in  their  own  interest." 

They  found  that  this  combination  had  been  formed:  (1)  to 
fix  the  price  of  beef  to  purchasers  and  consumers  so  as  to  keep 
up  the  price  in  their  interests;  (2)  not  to  interfere  with  each 
other  in  certain  markets  and  localities  in  the  sale  of  their  meats ; 
(3)  to  act  together  in  supplying  meat  to  public  institutions  at 


Robert  M.  La  Follette  47 

Washington,  the  bids  for  the  contracts  being  made  by  one  com- 
pany and  the  meat  supplied  by  each  of  the  packers  in  turn. 
How  was  this  accomplished? 

Aided  by  the  railroad  companies  this  great  combination  has 
been  able  to  crush  out  opposition  in  every  quarter  of  the  coun- 
try. There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  free  and  open  competitive 
market  in  which  the  farmer  can  sell  a  pound  of  beef  or  pork 
or  mutton  on  the  hoof.  His  prices  are  made  for  him  arbi- 
trarily by  this  combine.  There  is  no  butcher  shop  in  the 
United  States  in  which  a  consumer  can  purchase  a  pound  of 
beef,  excepting  at  the  price  controlled  by  the  meat  trust.  The 
testimony  of  one  of  the  strongest  concerns  in  the  combination, 
written  down  in  the  congressional  report,  frankly  admits  "that 
they  combined  to  fix  the  price  of  beef  to  the  purchaser  and 
consumer  so  as  to  keep  up  the  cost  in  their  own  interest." 

This  all-powerful  monopoly  of  the  meat  business  of  the  coun- 
try could  never  have  obtained  so  much  as  a  footing,  except  for 
the  arrangements  which  it  effected  with  the  railroads  at  the 
time  of  its  organization. 

The  report  of  this  important  investigation  says  further: 

''An  unjust  and  indefensible  discrimination  by  the  railroads 
against  the  shippers  of  live  cattle  is  made  in  the  interests  of  the 
combine.  This  is  the  spirit  and  controlling  idea  of  the  great 
monopolies  which  dominate  the  country.  ...  No  one  factor 
has  been  more  potent  in  affecting  an  entire  revolution  in  the 
methods  of  marketing  the  meat  supply  of  the  United  States 
than  railway  transportation." 

As  an  instance  of  the  way  in  which  the  railroads  assist  the 
packers'  combine,  the  committee  cites  the  foUowin: 

"A  man  by  the  name  of  Schwabe,  who  was  engaged  in  the 
butcher  business  in  Freeland,  Pennsylvania,  was  in  the  habit 
of  killing  some  cattle  to  supply  his  own  trade.  Armour  &  Co. 
learned  of  this  and  sent  a  telegram  to  their  agent,  H.  P.  Lacey, 
which  read  as  follows: 
"H.  P.  Lacey,  Freeland,  Pennsylvania. 

"Cannot  allow  Schwabe  to  continue  killing  live  stock.  ^  If 
he  will  not  stop,  make  other  arrangements,  and  make  prices 
so  as  you  can  get  his  trade. 

(Signed)         Armour  &  Co. 

Schwabe  refused.  From  this  time  on  he  could  buy  no  meat 
from  Armour  &  Co.,  and  could  not  get  any  cars  from  the  Erie 


48  Railway  Regulation 

railroad  to  ship  his  cattle  from  Buffalo,  but  was  compelled  to 
ship  on  the  Delaware  &  Lackawanna,  a  route  not  so  direct.  In 
other  words,  he  was  boycotted  by  Armour  &  Co.,  through  the 
Erie  Railroad  Co.  as  their  agent. 

As  a  necessary  result  of  the  concentration  at  Chicago  of  the 
cattle  trade  by  railroad  discrimination,  there  was  established  at 
that  place  the  Union  Stock  Yards,  with  a  capitalization  of 
$4,400,000.  These  yards  were  used  as  another  means  to  dis- 
criminate against  independent  packers  doing  business  east  of 
Chicago.  Exorbitant  prices  were  charged  these  men  for  the 
feeding  and  watering  of  their  cattle.  The  withdrawal  of  the 
palace  cattle  cars  east  of  Chicago  helped  along  this  discrimi- 
nation. These  palace  cattle  cars  are  so  arranged  with  racks 
and  other  appliances  that  the  cattle  can  be  fed  and  watered 
without  being  unloaded.  These  cars  have  been  regarded  with 
great  favor  by  shippers  and  have  added  much  to  the  value  of 
meat  when  butchered.  The  Trunk  Line  railroads  allowed  % 
of  a  cent  per  mile  on  each  one  of  these  cars  each  way  as  rent 
for  the  use  of  the  cars. 

Refrigerator  cars,  carrying  dressed  beef  and  owned  by  the 
''packers'  combine,"  are  allowed  %  of  a  cent  per  mile  each 
way  between  Chicago  and  New  York.  Looking  more  closely 
into  the  question  of  refrigerator  cars,  we  find  them  to  be  the 
worst  form  of  discrimination.  By  an  investigation  made  in 
1899,  it  appeared  that,  on  a  single  line  of  road,  refrigerator 
cars,  owned  by  three  firms,  earned  $72,945.95  in  nine  months. 
An  investigation  in  1890  disclosed  the  fact  that  250  private 
stock  ears,  costing  $156,500,  earned  in  two  years  a  net  revenue 
of  $171,532.20. 

The  private  car  arrangement,  while  a  great  convenience  in 
promoting  discrimination,  is  also  a  powerful  factor  in  aid  of 
establishing  monopoly.  The  Armour  interests  in  Chicago  have 
an  absolute  monopoly  of  the  refrigerator  business  in  the  ship- 
ments of  fruit  between  that  city  and  California. 

The  investigation  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission 
at  Chicago  October  10th,  1904,  paid  special  attention  to  the 
fruit  trust,  which  is  controlled  by  the  Armour  interests.  Evi- 
dence was  offered  to  prove  that  Armour  &  Co.  have  practically 
a  monopoly  in  the  handling  of  fruit  and  other  products  that 
require  the   use  of  refrigerator  cars.     This  concern,  with   the 


Robert  M.  La  Follette  49 

co-operation  of  the  railroads,  was  able  to  compel  commission 
merchants,  fruit  growers  and  all  others  engaged  in  the  indus- 
try, to  pay  an  assessment  of  from  twenty-five  to  seventy  dollars 
a  car  for  the  privelege  of  shipping  fruit  and  vegetables  in  such 
cars.  The  penalty  of  refusal  to  comply  with  this  demand  was 
an  embargo  on  all  shipments  and  forced  retirement  from  the 
business. 

It  was  shown  that  all  of  Tennesse's  products  are  barred  from 
Chicago  by  a  prohibitive  icing  charge  of  seventy  dollars  per 
car,  while  Georgia  ships  twice  as  much  fruit  in  a  car  at  one-half 
the  tarifp  rate,  and  twenty-five  per  cent,  less  in  icing  charges. 

The  railroads  give  rebates  to  the  dressed  beef  men,  which 
they  refuse  to  shippers  of  cattle,  even  though  they  ship  by 
the  train-load.  January,  1902,  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission said  in  its  report  to  congress,  respecting  the  relations 
existing  between  the  great  packing  houses  and  the  railroads, 
the  following: 

''That  the  leading  traffic  officials  of  many  of  our  principal 
railway  lines,— men  occupying  high  positions  and  charged  with 
the  most  important  duties,  should  deliberately  violate  the  stat- 
ute law  of  the  land,  and,  in  some  cases,  agree  with  each  other 
to  do  so ;  that  it  should  be  thought  by  them  necessary  to  destroy 
vouchers  and  so  to  manipulate  bookkeeping  as  to  obliterate  evi- 
dence of  the  transactions;  that  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dol- 
lars should  be  paid  in  unlawful  rebates  to  the  few  great  pack- 
ing houses;  that  the  business  of  railroad  transportation,  the 
most  important  but  one  in  the  country  today,  paying  the  high- 
est salaries,  and  holding  out  to  young  men  the  greatest  in- 
ducements, should,  to  such  an  extent,  be  conducted  in  open 
disregard  of  law,  must  be  surprising  and  offensive  to  all  right- 
minded  persons." 

Concerning  these  concessions,  whether  by  rates  or  rebates, 
the  commission  says  later  in  its  report: 

"The  effect  is  to  give  these  large  packers  an  enormous  ad- 
vantage over  other  similar  competitors,  who  ar^  located  at  other 
intermediate  points.  Already  these  competitors  have,  in  the 
main,  ceased  to  exist.  We  find  in  these  disclosures  a  pregnant 
illustration  of  the  manner  in  which  secret  concessions  are  tend- 
ing to  build  up  great  trusts  and  monopolies  at  the  expense  of 
the  small,  independent  operator." 

I  have  passed  by  the  Standard  Oil,  which  must  ever  stand 
as  the  type  and  model  of  the  whole  monster  brood,  some  of 
which  are  above  outlined.  With  the  aid  of  the  railroads,  it 
4 


50  Railway  Regulation 

destroyed  thousands  of  independent  business  enterprises,  de- 
stroyed prosperous,  thrifty  communities  and  towns,  happy 
homes,  and  individual  hopes.  But  its  hideous  story  is  known 
in  every  household. 

GOVERNMENT    CONTROL    VITAL. 

No  power  other  than  the  government  itself  is  equal  to  that 
of  these  industrial  combinations  always  in  close  association  and 
often  identified  in  interest  with  railroad  and  transportation 
companies.  Their  tremendous  political  influence  is  shown  by 
the  mere  recital  of  the  history  of  the  interstate  commerce  act, 
and  by  an  examination  of  the  records  of  congress  for  the  last 
seven  years.  Which  has  had  the  stronger  hold  upon  state  and 
national  legislation  during  the  last  twenty  years,  the  corpora- 
tions or  the  people?  Whose  interests  have  been  the  more 
safely  guarded?  Where  is  the  power  lodged  which  has  for 
seven  years  been  strong  enough  to  bar  national  legislation,  de- 
signed to  enlarge  the  powers  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission? It  is  not  necessary  to  charge  venality  anywhere,  but 
that  the  public  service  corporations  have  been  steadily  under- 
mining representative  government  in  national,  state  and  muni- 
cipal legislation,  no  thoughtful  man  can  question.  They  come 
between  the  people,  and  the  chosen  representatives  of  the 
people. 

I  would  in  no  wise  disparage  either  the  rights  or  the  inter- 
ests of  the  railroad  side  of  this  legislation.  The  question  is  one 
of  very  great  magnitude.  The  amount  of  property  involved  is 
very  large.  The  owners  of  railroads,  and  the  holders  of  rail- 
road securities  must  be  protected  in  all  of  their  rights.  They 
must  not  be  wronged  in  any  way.  They  are  entitled  to  such 
remuneration  as  will  enable  them  to  maintain  their  roads  in 
perfect  condition,  pay  the  best  of  wages  to  employes,  meet  all 
other  expenses  incident  to  operation,  and  in  addition  thereto 
enough  more  to  make  a  reasonable  profit  upon  every  dollar  in- 
vested in  the  business.  To  preserve  all  of  these  rights,  they 
are  entitled  to  the  strongest  protection  which  the  law  can  afford. 

But  the  public,  each  community,  and  every  individual,  has 
rights  equally  precious.  Upon  the  railway  companies  render- 
ing an  adequate  and  impartial  service  at  reasonable  rates,  all 


Robert  M.  La  Follette  51 

general  prosperity  is  dependent.  Deprived  of  either,  every 
community  is  checked  and  limited  in  its  growth;  every  busi- 
ness of  whatever  nature  must  languish  and  fail.  The  denial 
of  an  impartial  service  at  reasonable  rates,  is  the  denial  of 
equal  opportunity,  the  denial  of  a  square  deal. 

RATE    MUST  BE   MADE   BY   AN  IMPARTIAL   AUTHORITY. 

In  the  long  struggle  to  secure  some  legislation,  the  friends 
of  the  measure  have  been  content  to  ask  little,  and  they  have 
received  nothing.  But  through  all  of  the  years  of  waiting  and 
disappointment,  of  ruin  to  individuals  and  demoralization  to 
the  business  of  many  communities,  public  sentiment  has  been 
gathering  force.  It  is  all  powerful  when  once  aroused.  Unless 
I  mistake  the  temper  of  the  American  people,  they  will  de- 
mand the  full  measure  of  their  rights.  They  will  not  halt  or 
stop  or  compromise  until  that  demand  is  fully  satisfied.  The 
abuse  of  the  rate-making  power  lies  at  the  foundation  of  the 
transportation  problem.  Through  this  the  traffic  can  be  con- 
trolled and  centralized  at  railway  terminals,  business  consoli- 
dated and  combinations  established.  Remedial  legislation,  there- 
fore, to  be  effective,  must  strike  at  the  root  of  the  evil.  It 
must  place  the  rate-making  power  where  it  will  be  used  fairly 
and  justly  to  all  concerned.  The  public  has  long  permitted 
itself  to  be  treated  as  though  its  interests  were  of  small  con- 
sideration. The  miner,  the  manufacturer,  the  farmer,  turn  out 
the  products  which  constitute  the  traffic  of  the  country.  They, 
and  the  consumers,  are  vitally  interested  in  everything  pertain- 
ing to  the  transportation  of  these  products.  The  railroad  cor- 
poration is  chartered  through  the  favor  of  the  state,  to  engage 
in  the  transportation  business,  nothing  else.  It  was  created, 
and  given  its  special  powers  and  privileges  to  promote  the  gen- 
eral prosperity  of  all.  It  has  not  been  vested  with  authority 
to  decree  that  one  shipper  or  city  shall  grow  rich  and  great  at 
the  expense  of  another.  It  is  preposterous  that  the  corpora- 
tion, which  is  merely  a  carrier,  not  the  producer  or  consumer 
of  the  product  carried,  should  be  permitted  to  stand  in  rela- 
tion to  that  product  as  though  its  interests  were  the  sole  in- 
terests to  be  considered.  The  carrier  should  not  be  permitted 
to  say  where  the  product  shall   be  marketed.     If  it  has  au- 


52  Railway  Regulation 

thority  to  dictate  rates,  it  can  make  it  impossible  for  the  pro- 
ducer to  choose  his  own  market.  It  can  so  arrange  its  sched- 
ule of  rates,  it  can  so  conduct  its  service,  as  to  force  produce, 
merchandise  and  manufactures  to  the  market  which  it  chooses 
to  build  up. 

RAILWAY   COMPANY   DISQUALIFIED. 

The  making  of  the  rate  is  a  matter  of  deep  concern  to  more 
than  one  party  to  a  traffic  transaction.  True,  the  railway  com- 
pany has  large  interests  involved.  This  very  fact  unfits  it  to 
he  the  sole  judge  in  making  rates.  Rates  made  by  the  railway 
company  are  made  by  a  party  prejudiced  in  its  own  interests 
and  therefore  certain  to  be  unjust  to  the  public.  It  is  disquali- 
fied and  should  be  barred.  It  is  entitled  to  be  heard;  all  of 
its  interests  must  be  fully  and  fairly  weighed  in  regulating  its 
services  and  fixing  their  value  to  the  public.  But  its  interests 
are  not  paramount  to  those  of  the  public.  The  producer  and 
consumer  are  likewise  entitled  to  be  heard  as  well  as  the  rail- 
way company,  and  it  is  then  the  duty  of  the  government,  stand- 
ing between,  to  determine  impartially  the  rights  of  the  railway 
company  and  the  rights  of  the  public. 

In  all  of  the  hearings  before  congressional  committees  those 
opposed  to  enlarging  the  powers  of  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission  seem  to  believe  that  there  is  something  sacred 
about  a  railway  rate;  that  it  would  be  a  veritable  sacrilege  for 
any  one  outside  of  the  railroad  management  to  lay  a  hand  upon 
a  freight  schedule.  Any  critical  investigation  of  railway 
tariffs,  and  the  advances  made  in  rates  from  time  to  time,  will 
convince  the  student  that  rate-making  is  more  frequently  con- 
trolled by  the  financial  management  than  the  traffic  depart- 
ment of  the  road.  But  I  am  free  to  admit  that  rate-making 
requires  technical,  expert  knowledge  and  experience.  The 
railroads  are  able  to  secure  the  services  of  men  fitted  to  make 
rates.  Surely  this  great  government,  with  all  of  its  wealth 
and  power,  with  all  that  it  has  involved  in  protecting  the  in- 
terests of  the  citizen,  can  employ  equally  competent  men. 
And  the  people  of  this  country,  who  pay  to  the  railroad  com- 
panies annually  nearly  three  times  as  much  as  it  costs  to  main- 
tain government,  are  determined  that  the  rates  shall  be  made 
by  some  one  who  will  make  them  fairly  and  justly. 


Robert  M.  La  FoUette  53 

NO     HALF-WAY     MEASURE     WILL     SETTLE     ANYTHING. 

The  right  of  the  government  to  act  has  long  been  settled  by 
the  highest  authority. 

The  necessity  for  the  government  to  act  on  its  own  account 
is  too  plain  for  argument. 

The  duty  of  the  government  to  act  for  the  protection  of  the 
citizen  in  every  town  and  hamlet  of  the  country  is  everywhere 
manifest. 

No  half-way  measure  will  serve.  No  law  full  of  ambiguities, 
to  be  wrought  out  into  court  decisions,  repeating  the  sickening 
experiences  suffered  with  the  interstate  commerce  law,  will  set- 
tle anything.  The  people  of  this  country  are  not  to  be  tricked 
or  cajoled  or  baffled  for  another  quarter  of  a  century.  They 
are  coming  to  have  a  very  clear  understanding  of  their  rights. 
They  are  manifesting  an  exercise  of  independent  judgment  in 
the  matter  of  nominations  and  elections  never  before  witnessed 
since  the  organization  of  political  parties.  They  will  not  be 
trifled  with.  They  will  secure  legislators,  state  and  national, 
who  will  serve  them. 

The  same  obligation  rests  upon  the  federal  government  with 
respect  to  interstate  commerce,  and  the  state  government  with 
respect  to  state  commerce.  They  must  act  independently. 
Neither  can  afford  to  wait  for  the  other.  If  one  fails  to  meet 
the  full  measure  of  its  duty  to  the  citizen,  that  must  not  be 
made  an  excuse  for  the  other. 

The  federal  government  is  great  and  powerful.  It  can  se- 
cure the  services  of  competent  men.  It  can  employ  as  many  as 
may  be  required  to  protect  the  interests  of  the  business  and 
the  people  of  the  country.  The  present  commission,  composed 
of  able  and  experienced  men,  should  be  clothed  with  authority 
to  supervise  services  and  establish  rates.  If  it  is  necessary  to 
divide  the  country  into  districts  and  increase  the  commisssion, 
placing  each  district  under  the  control  of  a  given  number  of 
commissioners,  it  should  be  done. 

THE   POWERS   OF  THE   COMMISSION. 

The  commission  should  have  power  to  correct  a  rate  or  estab- 
lish a  rate  upon  its  own  motion.     Its  order  establishing  a  rate 


54  RoAlway  RegiilaUon 

should  at  once  carry  the  rate  into  effect,  to  continue  until  such 
time  as  the  commission  shall  otherwise  order,  or  the  court  of 
appeals  otherwise  determine,  if  an  appeal  should  be  taken. 

While  it  would  afford  some  relief  to  large  shippers,  and  to 
special  lines  of  traffic  between  large  commercial  centers  to  limit 
the  action  on  the  part  of  the  commission  to  cases  where  com- 
plaint is  made,  it  would  afford  little  or  no  relief  at  all  to  the 
great  body  of  the  people  of  the  country  composing  the  small 
shippers  and  the  consumers.  They  pay  in  the  end  the  great 
proportion  of  all  freights.  The  manufacturer  advancing  the 
freight  charges  it  to  his  jobber,  the  jobber  charges  it  over  to 
the  retail  merchant,  and  the  retail  merchant  passes  it  on  to  the 
consumer.  Excepting  as  the  manufacturer  or  jobber  or  mer- 
chant is  interested  in  a  reduction  to  secure  an  equality  of  rates 
with  competitors,  they  have  no  interest  in  the  freight  charge 
whatever,  and  if  rates  are  equitable  as  between  them  and  their 
rivals  in  business,  it  is  of  little  or  no  consequence  to  them  that 
the  rate  is  a  high  rate.  It  is  from  the  shippers  that  we  so 
often  hear  that  the  amount  of  the  rate  is  not  so  important  as 
the  equality  and  stability  of  rates.  Of  course,  the  amount  of 
the  rate  does  not  greatly  concern  the  shipper. 

THE    CONSUMER    ENTITLED   TO   PROTECTION. 

It  is  of  consequence  to  the  consumer.  The  great  body  of  the 
people  of  this  country  never  pay  a  freight  bill  to  a  railway 
company  direct.  They  are  nevertheless  the  ones  who  pay  the 
amounts  which  make  up  the  enormous  receipts  of  the  railway 
companies.  They  pay  the  freight  when  they  buy  lumber  and 
coal  and  other  supplies.  The  steadily  advancing  freight  charge 
is  a  matter  of  vital  importance  to  them  in  the  ever  increasing 
expense  of  living.  It  falls  upon  the  consumer  more  heavily 
than  any  one  else  in  the  country.  They  are  in  no  position, 
however,  to  file  complaints  with  the  commission,  first,  because 
upon  each  article  the  overcharge  stands  by  itself  and  is  not 
sufficient  in  amount  to  warrant  the  expense  necessary  to  enter 
upon  such  a  contest,  and,  further,  because  the  consumers  have 
no  knowledge  of  the  amount  of  the  overcharge.  The  lumber 
or  coal  or  merchandise  comes  to  them  at  a  round  cost  price,  and 
they  have   no  information   upon  which  to   separate  excessive 


Robert  M.  La  Follette  55 

freight  charges  from  the  total  cost.  As  to  them,  then,  no  law 
which  limits  relief  to  cases  of  complaint  only,  will  be  of  any 
benefit  whatever.  If  any  one  is  to  be  protected,  surely  it  should 
be  those  to  whom  the  reduction  would  be  a  matter  of  some  im- 
portance in  the  domestic  economy  which  they  must  practice  in 
all  things.  No  legislation  which  leaves  them  out  would  be  just. 
The  consumer  has  waited  long  and  patiently.  The  legislation 
which  is  to  stand  for  any  time  must  be  broad  enough  in  its 
terms  to  cover  him  as  well  as  the  shipper. 

NO    COMPROMISE. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  say  that  the  undertaking  is  too  great. 
No  other  duty  which  the  government  owes  to  the  people  and 
this  country  is  more  important  than  that  pertaining  to  a  con- 
trol of  transportation,  and  if  it  were  necessary  for  the  govern- 
ment to  install  a  government  official  in  the  traffic  department 
of  every  important  railway  office  in  the  United  States,  it  should 
meet  and  discharge  the  responsibility. 

It  is  time  for  determined,  concentrated  effort  on  the  part  of 
all  the  people  of  this  country.  They  can  easily  control  if  they 
will  but  move,  and  move  all  together.  They  have  a  brave,  able 
and  progressive  friend  in  President  Roosevelt.  He  has  de- 
clared for  them.  He  cannot  be  misled.  He  will  not  comprom- 
ise.    At  the  beginning  of  this  congress  he  said  in  his  message: 

'*The  government  must,  in  an  increasing  degree,  supervise 
and  regulate  the  work  of  the  railways  in  interstate  commerce; 
and  such  increased  supervision  is  the  only  alternative  to  an 
increase  of  the  present  evils  on  the  one  hand,  or  a  still  more 
radical  policy  on  the  other.  In  my  judgment,  the  most  im- 
portant legislative  act  now  needed  as  regards  the  regulation  of 
corporations  is  this  act  to  confer  on  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission  the  power  to  revise  rates  and  regulations,  the  re- 
vised rates  to  at  once  go  into  effect  and  stay  in  effect  unless, 
and  until,  the  Court  of  Heview  reverses  it." 

No  utterance  made  by  a  president  in  many  years  has  called 
for  higher  courage  or  carried  hope  to  so  many  struggling  busi- 
ness interests  in  the  smaller  cities  and  towns  of  the  country. 
Thoughtful  men  everywhere  are  strengthened  for  the  great 
contest  which  is  coming  on. 


56  Railway  Regulation 

MUST  CONTROL  RAILROADS,  OR  RAILROADS  AND  TRUSTS  WILL 
CONTROL  COUNTRY. 

In  conclusion,  then,  let  it  be  remembered  that  the  plan  de- 
veloped and  consummated  in  building  up  the  anthracite  coal 
trust,  the  grain  trust  and  the  meat  trust  is  indicative  of  the 
power  of  the  railroads  in  combinations.  There  is  not  an  im- 
portant trust  in  the  United  States  which  does  not  have  the 
assistance  of  the  railroads  in  destroying  its  competitors  in  busi- 
ness. The  limitation  and  control  of  these  public  service  cor- 
porations within  their  legitimate  field  as  comman  carriers  is  of 
primary  importance  in  the  practical  solution  of  the  trust  prob- 
lem which  confronts  the  people  of  this  country.  It  is  manifest 
that  any  trust  legislation  to  be  effective  must  go  hand  in  hand 
with  a  control  over  railway  rates  by  the  federal  government 
on  interstate  commerce,  through  an  enlargement  of  the  powers 
of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  and  a  like  control  of 
railway  rates  on  state  commerce  by  each  of  the  states  through 
a  state  commission.  Added  to  this,  the  railroad  companies 
must  be  prohibited  from  using  the  extraordinry  powers  con- 
ferred upon  them  by  the  state  for  any  other  purpose  than  con- 
ducting effieciently  and  impartially  the  transportation  business 
for  which  they  were  organized. 

When  we  consider  the  magnitude  of  the  railroad  question 
and  the  industrial  question,  and  their  combined  influence  upon 
industrial  and  political  independence,  it  becomes  apparent  that 
it  is  impossible  to  overstate  or  exaggerate  the  dangers  with 
which  we  are  menaced.  These  great  combinations  of  wealth, 
owning  most  of  the  natural  produce  of  the  earth,  controlling 
what  they  do  not  own,  created  and  nourished  by  the  railways 
and  in  combination  with  them,  are  already  making  their  pow- 
erful influence  felt  in  municipal,  state,  and  national  legisla- 
tion. More  than  all  other  national  questions  with  which  we 
have  to  deal  should  this  question  be  placed  above  party  con- 
sideration. The  sentiment  of  the  American  people  is  unani- 
mous that  it  should  be  solved,  not  in  any  spirit  of  blind,  irra- 
tional prejudice,  but  with  an  enlightened  public  policy  that 
employs  all  the  power  lodged  in  state  and  federal  government 
against  the  wrongful  usurpation  of  the  rights  of  the  people. 


LA  FOLLETTE  OF  WISCONSIN. 

INTIMATE    STUDY    OF    ONE   OF   THE    MOST   INTERESTING   FIGURES 
BEFORE   THE   AMERICAN    PUBLIC. 


By  EMERSON  HOUGH. 


America  needs  a  man.  Never  in  all  her  history  so  much  as 
now  has  she  needed  a  man.  Within  twenty-five  years  this  need 
will  be  the  more  imperative.  Within  twenty-five  years,  at  the 
present  pace  of  matters  in  America,  there  will  be  seen  in  this 
country,  as  in  another,  streets  red  with  blood,  and  will  be 
heard  arising  with  another  meaning  the  cry,  "There  is  no 
czar ! ' ' 

This  is  not  to  say  that  America  has  not  a  man  for  the  four 
years  next  to  come.  A  magnificent  opportunity  has  been  ac- 
corded Theodore  Roosevelt.  The  people  have  trusted  him.  They 
will  require  of  him  results.  If  he  shall  lay  down  his  office  at 
the  end  of  four  years,  showing  explanations  and  not  results, 
he  will  retire  from  office  one  of  the  most  execrated  men  that 
ever  sat  in  the  White  House.  So  great  is  the  need  today  of  an 
actual  man  in  America,  so  swift  will  be  the  ultimate  rebellion 
of  the  American  people,  patient  until  now  under  the  worse 
than  reckless  individual  exploitation  of  their  resources,  patient 
even  in  the  reckless  dilution  of  their  blood,  patient  even  under 
the  continuous  treachery  of  both  the  great  political  parties  who 
have  rendered  themselves  masters  and  not  servants  of  the 
American  people. 

This  sounds  like  sensationalism.  It  will  sound  less  so  twenty- 
five  years  from  now,  perhaps  even  four  years  from  now.  As- 
suredly the  people  of  America  will  demand  Magna  Charta 
back  again.  Assuredly  there  will  arise  for  them  the  man  they 
need.  Whether  he  be  governor,  senator,  president,  is  of  no 
consequence.     He  may  be  greater  than  either  or  all. 

Copyright,   1905,   by  The  Chicago  Review  Company. 
Published  by  permission. 


58  Lta  Follette  of  Wisconsin 

This  man  whom  America  needs  may  perhaps  be  a  young  man 
today,  just  coming  out  of  the  school  of  letters  or  into  the  school 
of  life.  He  may  perhaps  be  one  of  the  four  figures  now  under 
the  pubdic  eye;  four  men  who  have  something  more  than  an 
oppportunity  of  political  success.  One  of  these  may  prove  a 
great  American. 

We  have  President  Roosevelt,  with  the  shackles  off,  as 
America  hopes;  a  man  with  honesty  and  courage  and  zeal,  a 
man  somewhat  handicapped  by  himself,  and  somewhat  further 
handicapped  in  his  knowledge  of  American  life  by  the  fact 
that  he  started  in  the  middle  of  the  ladder,  and  has  actually 
but  a  theoretical  knowledge  of  much  of  the  strenuous  life  of 
which  he  writes  and  talks.  Theodore  Roosevelt  does  not  know 
all  of  America.  We  never  yet  have  had  a  president  who  did. 
It  seems  a  brutal  thing  to  say  of  a  man  who  has  done  so  much 
that  he  has  much  more  to  do;  that  the  people  will  inexorably 
exact  much  more  from  him  than  political  success;  that  they 
will  eventually  humble  him  with  the  vastness  of  the  responsi- 
bility cast  upon  him— the  greatest  responsibility,  the  greatest 
duty  ever  placed  upon  any  president  of  the  United  States. 
The  Revolution— the  war  of  the  Rebellion— what  are  these  when 
it  comes  to  a  question  of  Magna  Charta?  It  has  nearly  come 
to  that  in  America  today. 

Then  there  is  Folk  of  Missouri,  a  good  man.  Whether  he 
is  a  great  man  no  one  knows.  He  is  untried  in  office.  No  one 
knows  whether  or  not  he  will  prove  a  good  servant  of  the 
people. 

There  is  Deneen  of  Illinois.  He  is  thought  to  be  a  good  man. 
He  too  is  practically  untried  in  office.  It  is  not  yet  known 
whether  he  will  prove  a  politician  or  an  American.  It  is  not 
yet  known  whether  he  will  attempt  to  be  a  master  of  the  people 
or  their  representative  and  servant,  as  the  coming  great  Ameri- 
can must  be. 

Then  there  is  La  Follette  of  Wisconsin,  the  champion  of 
W^isconsin,  three  times  its  governor,  now  its  senator.  La  Fol- 
lete  for  the  presidency  after  a  time?  It  is  irrelevant  and  im- 
material to  ask  it.  The  question  is  not  upon  Roosevelt  or  La 
Follette  or  any  other  man  for  the  presidency  or  any  other  spe- 
cific office.     The  question  is  that  of  America's  need  for  Magna 


Emerson  Hough  59 

Charta  again,  and  her  need  for  a  man.    The  chair  at  the  White 
House  is  not  necessarily  the  greatest  place  in  America. 

What  about  La  Follette  of  Wisconsin,  a  fighter  with  the 
soldier  left  out,  a  man  who  knows  American  life  from  the  bot- 
tom round  of  the  ladder  up,  and  who  now  proposes  deliberately 
to  learn  every  section  of  America?  He  is  a  man  without  a 
party  behind  him.  He  has  a  state  behind  him  instead  of  a 
party.  Since  his  message  went  out  this  month  of  January  he 
has  had  more  than  a  state  behind  him,  and  more  than  a  place 
on  the  side  track  of  the  United  States  senate,  that  great  aggre- 
gation of  corporation  agents. 

;  La  Follette  has  come  up  from  the  ranks.  He  has  done  it  by 
personal  courage,  by  intense  concentration,  by  indomitable  will. 
He  fought  a  clean  fight  in  a  hundred  unknown  battles  in  con- 
gress. He  fought  his  best  friends  there  and  at  home  when  they 
came  to  him  with  propositions  tainted  with  unclean  politics, 
the  usual  politics,  the  customary  thing,  to  buy  and  sell  and 
trade  in  votes,  and  lie  and  steal.  He  took  his  chance  of  politi- 
cal damnation,  because  he  would  not  corrupt  himself  or  at- 
tempt to  subbom  a  judge  of  the  bench  in  his  own  statc!\  To 
do  this  he  had  to  practically  resign  from  his  own  party  and  to 
alienate  that  party's  most  powerful  figure  in  his  state.  Of 
this  fight  the  public  knows  little,  but  it  was  La  Follette 's  great- 
est. It  was  fought  outside  of  the  lime  light,  for  the  sake  of 
conviction,  and  not  for  the  sake  of  advertising.  La  Follette 
won  that  fight  and  came  back  into  the  political  arena  saddened, 
embittered,  but  greater  than  he  has  been  before.  He  realized 
th)en  that  the  court  of  appeal  was  not  his  own  self  righteous- 
ness or  his  own  ambition,  but  the  people,  in  whom  the  power  of 
this  government  is  vested;  who  have  never  alienated  that 
power  from  themselves,  and  who  will  never  allow  it  to  be  taken 
from  them  in  this  country. 

They  call  La  Follette  a  great  republican.  ^Vhat  folly !  They 
call  him  presidential  timber.  What  unspeakable  folly.  La 
'Follette  is  not  a  great  republican,  but  a  great  democrat.  He 
knows  that  the  democracy  of  America  is  largely  in  the  rank 
and  file  of  the  republican  party  today ;  that  the  South,  profess- 
edly democratic,  is  practically  only  so  by  reason  of  the  race 
question,  and  that  the  principles  of  aristocracy  and  not  of  wide 


60  La  Follette  of  Wisconsin 

democracy  prevail  by  tradition  and  necessity  in  the  South 
rather  than  in  the  North.  La  Follette 's  real  party  has  no 
name.  To  give  it  his  name  would  be  to  stultify  it.  For  him, 
or  for  some  one  else  if  he  shall  prove  indifferent  or  faithless, 
there  is  a  growing  party  of  an  actual  democracy,  a  party  of 
popular  intelligence  and  resolution.  At  present  Robert  M.  La 
Follette  is  leader  of  that  party  in  the  state  of  Wisconsin. 

He  could  have  had  no  better  battle  field,  so  he  himself  ad- 
mits. The  state  of  Wisconsin  has  a  large  foreign  population, 
but  it  is  a  good  sort  of  population.  Just  before  the  close  of 
the  first  half  of  the  last  century  all  Europe  was  in  a  state  of 
revolution.  The  best  and  most  independent  minds  of  the  op- 
pressed peoples  of  Europe  evaded  that  oppression  by  emigrat- 
ing to  America.  That  sort  of  emigration  was  quite  different 
from  the  present  hopeless  and  apathetic  masses  which  are 
shipped  to  us  now  in  cargoes  at  so  much  a  head.  The  Ger- 
mans of  Wisconsin— for  it  was  just  at  this  time  of  discontent 
in  Europe,  as  Governor  La  Follette  points  out,  that  Wisconsin 
threw  open  her  arms  to  the  world  as  a  state— were  tired  of  mon- 
archies and  of  oppression.  They  were  revolutionists,  thinkers. 
They  were  ready  to  listen  to  the  doctrines  of  a  popular  gov- 
ernment. They  were  ready  to  rebel  at  oppression  of  any  kind. 
Their  children  are  as  ready  today.  It  was  here,  in  large  meas- 
ure, that  La  Follette  found  his  support.  That  support  did  not 
need  in  Wisconsin— will  not  need  in  America,  the  name  of  any 
party.  Call  them  what  you  like,  republicans  or  democrats, 
or  yellow  dogs,  or  half  breeds,  they  are  the  men  who  in  Wiscon- 
sin and  elsewhere  will  eventually  rebuke  that  democratic  party 
which  has  betrayed  them,  that  republican  party  which  has  per- 
haps even  more  betrayed  them,  since  it  has  the  greater  oppor- 
tunity for  such  betrayal. 

Today  the  La  Follette  idea  and  La  Follette  himself  are  be- 
fore the  public.  Let  us  remember  that  this  is  not  a  question 
of  the  senatorship  or  presidency.  The  career  of  Mr.  Bryan  is 
proof  enough  of  the  yearning  of  America  for  a  Warwick,  even 
a  misguided  one.  It  was  the  unplaced  Warwick  vote  of  America 
which  last  fall  rebuked  the  plutocracy,  the  moneyocracy,  the 
aristocracy,  which  under  the  name  of  the  democratic  party 
sought  last   fall  to  elect  a  president.     The   immensity  of  the 


Emerson  Hough  61 

republican  majority  was  called  a  tribute.  It  was  not  such.  It 
was  a  rebuke  to  the  democratic  party,  so-called.  It  was  no  less  a 
warning  to  the  republican  party,  so-called.  What  was  called 
a  great  republican  victory  was  perhaps  one  of  the  smallest  re- 
publican victories  ever  gained.  The  margin  of  safety  of  the 
republican  party  was  perhaps  never  smaller  than  it  is  today. 
This  seems  folly  or  sensationalism.  It  will  seem  less  so  twenty- 
five  years  from  today,  possibly  four  years  from  today.  What 
America  needs  and  is  going  to  have  is  a  man! 

Again  let  us  insist  that  even  the  presidency  may  be  too  small 
for  this  man.  In  some  ways  the  chair  at  the  White  House  is 
a  small  one.  There  are  plenty  bigger.  The  question  is  sim- 
ply. Who  is  the  man,  and  what  is  he?  Not  a  socialist;  not  an 
anarchist.  Simply  an  American,  simply  a  man  who  remembers 
that  under  our  pledge  to  ourselves  and  to  the  world  we  are  a 
republic  and  must  always  remain  so. 

Review,  then,  the  list  of  possibilities  before  the  public.  De- 
cide for  yourself,  and  upon  such  knowledge  as  you  may  obtain 
from  unbiased  study  of  actual  facts,  what  manner  of  man  and 
what  manner  of  platform  are  apt  to  attain  prominence  in  the 
near  future.  Or,  leave  out  the  question  of  the  man  altogether 
and  take  up  that  of  the  idea  for  which  he  stands.  Forget  La 
Follette,  and  remember  the  Wisconsin  idea,  which  is  something 
new  in  American  politics  and  progress. 

The  Wisconsin  idea  is  that  of  the  truthful  printed  page  and 
the  logical  public  speech.  Its  purpose  is  an  educated  voter; 
its  intent  is  to  put  the  power  in  the  hands  of  the  intelligent 
and  educated  voter.  That  is  Americanism.  There  is  much 
hope  in  that  idea.  Perhaps  that  idea  may  preserve  Magna 
Charta  for  the  American  people,  and  not  make  it  necessary  for 
them  to  take  it  back  again.  Under  this  idea  Theodore  Roose- 
velt and  Robert  M.  La  Follette  are  brothers,  twin  brothers. 
Roosevelt,  let  us  hope,  is  not  a  republican,  but  a  democrat  in 
the  true  sense,  as  he  personally  insists  he  is,  and  as  he  now  has 
opportunity  to  prove.  La  Follette  is  not  a  republican,  but  a 
democrat.  Moreover,  he  has  been  building  an  intelligent  de- 
mocracy. He  has  been  making  public  the  truth  regarding  gov- 
ernment and  misgovernment.  That  is  the  Wisconsin  idea.  Such 
has  been  the  life,  and  such  will  be  the  life  of  the  exponent  of 
the  Wisconsin  idea. 


62  La  Follette  of  Wisconsin 

Is  La  Follette  a  politician?  Yes,  a  good  one.  Is  he  honest? 
Ask  those  who  have  fought  with  him.  Is  he  in  earnest?  Ask 
his  friends.     Is  he  a  game  fighter?     Ask  his  enemies. 

La  Follette  has  never  yet  quit  a  fight.  He  has  never  yet 
taken  the  weaker  part.  Offered  a  seat  in  the  United  States 
senate  he  said:  ''Yes;  if,  first  I  must  be  assured  that  I  have 
this  legislature  with  me  on  my  railroad  commission  law.  Other- 
wise I  stay  right  here. ' '  He  has  never  been  bought.  He  has  sac- 
rificed his  personal  future  and  that  of  his  family  for  the  sake 
of  the  fight.  He  is  a  poor  man  today.  His  office  as  governor 
cost  him  $3,000  a  year  as  a  luxury.  He  went  on  the  platform 
and  lectured  to  make  up  that  $3,000.  One  of  the  ablest  trial 
lawyers  in  the  state,  he  abandoned  a  lucrative  law  practice 
and  for  three  terms  as  governor  has  pleaded  before  no  su- 
preme court  but  that  of  the  people.  He  has  personally  com- 
piled lists  which  teach  him  the  political  belief  of  practically 
every  voter  in  the  state  of  Wisconsin.  He  reaches  his  voters 
with  pamphlets  and  with  speeches.  In  his  speeches  he  resorts 
to  no  cheap  anecdote  to  hold  his  crowd.  He  can  talk  three 
hours  to  a  packed  audience,  using  no  wit,  no  humor,  nothing 
but  logic,  and  handling  such  questions  as  ad  valorem  taxes  and 
differential  rates— and  he  can  hold  his  audience.  He  can  write 
a  pamphlet  on  unjust  railroad  discrimination  which  carries  its 
conviction  on  each  page.  He  has  no  campaign  fund.  The 
other  faction  of  the  republican  party  has  the  money  and  the 
press.  When  he  has  needed  money  to  go  on  with  the  fight  and 
to  spread  his  literature  among  the  voters  he  has  gone  on  the 
platform  and  lectured  to  earn  it.  He  was  never  blest  with 
fortune.  He  did  not  begin  at  the  middle  of  the  ladder.  His 
whole  life  has  been  fight,  fight,  fight  all  the  way  through.  A 
marvel  of  concentration  and  continuity  of  purpose,  he  has  never 
been  driven  away  from  his  idea;  he  has  never  consented  to 
plead  before  any  political  court  saving  the  supreme  court  of 
the  American  people.  That  is  the  La  Follette  idea,  and  that  is 
the  reason  that  the  question  of  the  presidency  of  the  United 
States  is  a  trivial  one  in  regard  to  this  man. 

How  much  of  his  battle  has  La  Follette  won?  Only  a  part, 
and  yet  a  great  deal.  Setting  aside  his  recent  election  to  the 
senate,  he  won  his  more  important  battle  of  the  governorship. 


Emerson  Hough  63 

The  fight  still  remains  to  control  the  legislature,  upon  whose 
vote,  of  course,  depends  the  victory  of  the  rate-making  railroad 
commission  which  is  the  stern  and  fixed  ambition  of  La  Follette 
for  his  state,  which  he  would  rather  have  than  a  seat  in  the 
senate.  Back  of  that  he  has  already  won  his  fight  for  the  ad 
valorem  tax  of  railroad  properties.  He  won  it  by  educating  a 
public,  every  voter  of  which  can  tell  you  more  about  ad  val- 
orem taxes  than  you  know  yourself. 

Is  this  all  that  La  Follette  has  done  after  his  endeavor?  No. 
His  fame  rests  upon  an  accomplishment  greater  than  that  of 
senatorial  office,  greater  than  his  election  to  the  governor's 
chair  for  the  third  time. 

The  great  La  Follette  victory— the  great  American  victory— 
the  beginning  of  the  great  American  victory,  was  the  primary 
election  law  of  Wisconsin.  The  establishment  of  the  Australian 
ballot  for  the  primaries  was  something  bigger  than  Theodore 
Roosevelt  has  ever  done,  bigger  than  any  act  of  Folk  or  Deneen 
or  Bryan.  It  is  all  very  well  for  reformers  to  wail  aloud,  or 
for  reformers  to  protest  and  promise  generalities,  but  after  all 
the  man  with  a  remedy  is  the  practical  one  and  the  one  most 
to  be  desired.     La  Follette  found  a  remedy. 

The  reasoning  was  simple.  ''After  all,"  said  he  to  himself, 
**this  is  perhaps  America.  Perhaps,  after  all,  the  country  does 
not  actually  belong  to  these  monopolies  which  are  killing 
America.  Perhaps,  after  all,  this  is  a  republic,  this  fraction 
of  America  which  might  have  been.  Perhaps,  after  all,  the 
people  are  the  masters  and  not  the  slaves.  Therefore,  let  the 
people  elect  their  servants  and  not  have  one  set  of  masters 
elect  for  them  another  and  succeeding  set  of  masters.  Let  the 
people  and  not  the  system,  the  machine,  nominate  their  own 
servants. ' ' 

That  was  a  simple  and  great  thing.  It  is  the  greatest  thing 
done  in  America  for  very  many  years.  It  is  far  greater  than 
the  taking  of  a  city.  If  we  be  forced  to  comparisons,  it  is  far 
greater  than  the  taking  of  San  Juan  hill.  It  was  done  after  a 
far  harder  fight  than  that  of  San  Juan,  against  greater  odds. 

The  man  who  won  that  fight  is  not  to  be  denied.  His  weapons 
are  irresistible.  Tired  of  bosses,  he  went  to  the  actual  boss. 
That  is  the  Wisconsin  idea— that  the  voter  is  the  actual  boss. 


( 


64  Jja  FoUette  of  WiscoTisin 

Watch  that  idea  travel,  once  it  gets  beyond  the  confines  of  the 
state  of  Wisconsin.  It  is  the  greatest  idea  of  today.  It  is  the 
idea  which  declares  Theodore  Roosevelt  and  Robert  M.  La  Fol- 
lette  and  Joseph  W.  Folk  and  Albert  B.  Cummins  and  Charles 
S.  Deneen  and  every  other  figure  deserving  the  attention  of 
the  republic  today  to  be  great  democrats  and  not  great  republi- 
cans, great  men  and  not  great  politicians;  great  Americans, 
great  servants  and  not  petty  masters  so-called.  Woe  be  to  the 
man  of  these  who  shall  fall  out  of  that  classification! 

No  man  is  coming  forward  more  swiftly  today  than  this 
same  La  Follette  of  Wisconsin,  who  in  two  days  has  changed 
the  attitude  of  the  railroads  and  of  the  senate  and  of  the  inter- 
state commerce  commission.  This  man  is  a  fighter,  and  he  will 
not  quit.  The  railroads  know  that,  and  the  senate  will  learn 
it.     How,  then,  about  La  Follette  as  a  personality? 

As  a  man.  La  Follette  has  been  much  misrepresented.  The 
republican  press  of  Wisconsin  has  been  practically  owned  by 
the  so-called  stalwart  wing  of  that  party.  La  Follette  has  been 
obliged  to  resort  to  the  circular  instead  of  the  newspaper  for 
advertising.  It  has  been  hard  to  get  the  truth  about  him. 
Moreover,  the  man  himself  is  an  actor.  His  best  friends  do  not 
claim  to  know  him,  though  they  love  him  and  are  faithful  to 
him.  The  La  Follette  lieutenants  are  not  political  henchmen 
but  personal  devotees.  What,  therefore,  is  to  be  said  about 
this  man  of  strange  personality,  who  came  up  from  the  ranks 
himself,  and  who  has  always  gone  back  to  the  ranks  when  he 
needed  aid  and  counsel?  What  about  Robert  M.  La  Follette, 
the  man?  I  feel  in  a  position  to  speak  with  a  certain  confi- 
dence on  this  point. 

I  first  saw  Robert  M.  La  Follette  twenty-five  years  ago,  at 
the  State  University  of  Iowa,  on  the  occasion  of  an  interstate 
oratorical  contest.  La  Follette  had  won  the  contest  in  his  own 
state,  and  was  now  to  meet  the  chosen  speakers  of  the  surrounds 
ing  states.  His  oration,  as  I  remember  perfectly,  was  a  study 
of  that  strange  Shakesperean  character,  lago,  that  impersona- 
tion of  crafty,  slinking,  covert  evil.  Personally,  I  was  not 
obliged  to  remember  La  Follette  of  Wisconsin  or  his  oration, 
but  the  singular  fact  remains  that  out  of  all  those  speakers  who 
appeared  before  us  that  night.  La  Follette  of  Wisconsin,  as  we 


Emerson  Hough  65 

called  him  then,  remains  alone  and  absolutely  distinct!  I  do 
not  remember  the  name  of  a  single  speaker  of  all  the  others 
who  competed  in  those  dear,  absurd  old  college  days,  twenty- 
five  years  ago.  Might  this  be  because  La  FoUette  was  the  win- 
ner of  the  contest  ?  Not  necessarily,  for,  though  I  cannot  recall 
the  personality  of  one  of  the  others,  I  can  see  plainly  today— 
just  as  perhaps  many  others  who  were  there  can  see  today— 
the  slim,  straight  figure  of  the  man  from  Wisconsin.  He  did 
not  seem  short  in  stature,  though  now  I  know  he  w£is.  He 
leaned  just  slightly  forward,  in  confidence,  in  enthusiasm.  His 
hair— "pompadour,"  we  called  it  then,  in  college  phrase- 
stood  like  a  mane  over  his  forehead.  ^As  he  jerked  his  head 
forward  in  gesticulation  this  mane  would  half  fall  forward  and 
then  go  back  into  place,  elastic.  He  had  a  good  jaw,  as  we 
who  were  then  interested  in  football  noticed.  , 

As  to  his  oration,  it  was  a  matter  of  thought  and  careful 
study,  of  logic  and  conviction.  There  was  no  humor  about  it. 
He  had  briefed  the  case  of  lago  from  all  known  records.  He 
showed  the  facts  about  lago,  and  we  listened.  The  man  from 
Wisconsin  actually  pursued  lago.  At  last  lago  himself  van- 
ished, slipping  away,  merged  into  the  shadows,  no  longer  to 
be  feared! 

It  was  simple,  easy.     It  won. 

Now  I  personally  remember  that  oration  and  that  man  today. 
I  cannot  truthfully  say  that  I  remember  any  portion  of  any 
other  college  oration  that  I  ever  heard.  I  have  never  been 
hired,  or  paid,  or  chartered  to  remember  La  FoUette  or  lago, 
yet  I  have  done  so.  This  is  a  mere  incident,  but  it  is  an  inci- 
dent of  considerable  interest;  for  that  was  twenty-five  years 
ago,  and  until  the  present  week  I  have  not  seen  La  FoUette  or 
his  oration  on  lago  since. 

After  the  time  that  we  babes  and  sucklings  came  out  of  col- 
lege, the  years  resumed  their  steady  progress.  Personally  I 
forgot  lago  and  La  FoUette.  One  day  I  heard,  in  a  sort  of 
trance,  that  La  FoUette  had  gone  to  congress.  This  pained  me 
at  the  time,  as  I  could  not  see  how  it  happened  that  he  had 
gone  to  congress  and  not  myself.  Bread  and  butter  again 
troubled,  and  again  I  forgot  La  FoUette  of  Wisconsin.  He 
himself  was  still  pursuing  lago  in  congress— still  briefing  Iago» 
6 


66  La  Follette  of  WiscoTisin 

Shakespeare  never  killed  lago.  La  Follette  returned  to  Wis- 
consin. There  was  his  old  antagonist  in  another  form!  Did 
La  Follette  rush  into  print  at  that  time  ?  No.  For  seven  years 
he  worked  on  his  primary  election  law.  He  did  it  as  a  lawyer. 
He  examined  every  discoverable  precedent,  case,  decision  and 
parallel  measure  to  be  found  in  the  United  States.  Then  he 
went  to  the  people  with  his  brief,  just  as  he  did  at  Iowa  City. 
He  won.     Exit  lago  again  into  the  shades  of  night! 

Meantime— to  make  this  matter  more  clear :  and  one  may  give 
assurance  that  the  personal  equation  is  in  negligable  quantity — 
there  had  happened,  out  in  the  state  of  Iowa,  a  little  paltry, 
common  tragedy.  It  was  a  railroad  tragedy.  It  was  one  of 
many  thousands  which  happened  then,  which  have  happened 
more  frequently  since,  which  have  multiplid  so  rapidly  of  late 
that  today  the  president  of  the  United  States  is  setting  apart 
as  a  special  duty  of  congress  their  investigation.  It  was  not  a 
death— something  rather  worse  than  that.  It  was  a  little,  un- 
noticed, common  tragedy— the  tragedy  of  discriminating  rail- 
road rates. 

I  do  not  mind  saying  that  it  was  my  own  dear  old  father 
who  was  involved,  so  that  I  know  aU  the  facts.  It  was  very 
simple.  Given  a  grain  and  lumber  business  in  a  small  town, 
and  a  railroad  which  gave  one  competitor  in  that  line  of  busi- 
ness a  cut  rate  on  all  lumber  shipped  west  of  the  Mississippi 
river  and  all  grain  shipped  east  to  the  river;  no  argument  re- 
mains. The  competitor  with  the  cut  rate  forced  his  business 
rival  to  the  wall.  That  tragedy,  with  many  others  similar,  is 
before  the  American  congress  today.  For  myself,  though  I 
cannot  see  what  the  railroads  would  lose  by  letting  congress 
regulate  their  rates,  neither  can  I  see  what  the  railroads  gained 
by  this  discriminating  rate  back  there  in  Iowa  twenty-five  years 
ago.  The  amount  of  grain  and  lumber  shipped  east  and  west 
was  precisely  the  same,  only  one  firm  did  the  shipping  instead 
of  two.  One  family  went  down  instead  of  two  surviving.  I 
do  not  see  what  the  railroad  gained. 

Today  that  question  is  before  congress  for  answer.  Today 
La  Follette  of  Wisconsin,  with  his  oration  on  lagoism,  carefuUy 
briefed  for  seven  years,  is  ready  to  ask,  what  did  the  railroad 
gain?     Am  I  interested  in  that?     Was  your  family? 


Emerson  Hough  67 

So  now,  after  twenty-five  years,  during  which  Robert  M.  La 
Follette  had  been  briefing  lago  and  I  had  been  briefing  bread 
and  butter,  I  met  La  Follette  of  Wisconsin,  neither  as  a  friend 
nor  as  an  enemy,  and  not  for  the  purpose  of  what  is  known  as 
an  interview.  I  went  to  him  as  any  of  us  might  go,  as  a  plain 
American,  telling  him  that  I  despised  a  politician  above  all  cre- 
ated things,  and  that  as  a  citizen  of  America  I  was  simply 
looking  for  a  man. 

One  would  have  recognized  La  Follette  from  the  college  mem- 
ory, though  one  had  not  seen  him  since.  His  figure  now  ap- 
peared to  be  shorter.  He  had  grown  stockier.  The  "pompa- 
dour'' still  endured,  shot  now  with  gray,  beaten  down  just  a 
little,  but  still  elastic. 

As  a  boy  I  had  thought  the  La  Follette  eyes  were  dark  and 
piercing.  All  politicians,  at  least  in  the  press  reports,  like  to 
have  "dark  and  piercing  eyes,"  and  a  "tall,  commanding  fig- 
ure." La  Follette  has  neither.  His  eyes  are  blue  or  blue- 
gray— the  best  fighting  eyes  in  the  world,  as  they  are  the  best 
for  the  management  of  any  weapon.  La  Follette,  who  has 
never  had  time  for  sportsmanship,  with  short  practice,  made 
the  best  revolver  score  at  Camp  Douglas,  military  week,  last 
year.  The  La  Follette  eye  is  small,  like  that  of  any  fighting 
animal.  A  spaniel  has  a  large  luminous  eye,  which  you  can 
knock  off  with  a  stick.  The  bull  terrier  is  differently  con- 
structed. Had  La  Follette  been  of  the  spaniel  type,  docile, 
licking  the  hand  that  smote  him,  his  eye  might  have  been  off 
and  out  long  ago.  [Back  under  a  bony  brow,  narrowed  to  a  slit 
in  a  fight,  like  that  of  a  pugilist,  the  little  blue  La  Follette  eye 
is  that  of  a  courageous,  faithful  and  fearless  bull  terrier.  *  As 
to  this,  a  friend  of  his  unwittingly  gave  a  perfect  illustration. 

"Bob  La  Follette,"  said  he,  "is  like  a  dog  which  has  been 
left  in  charge  of  his  master's  coat— nice  dog,  been  friendly  to 
everybody.  Pretty  soon  the  fellows  sitting  around  think  there 
may  be  a  bottle  or  something  in  the  fellow's  coat,  and  they 
want  it.  They  go  up  to  the  coat,  but  the  dog  puts  his  paw  on 
it.  'Nice  dog,'  they  say,  and  he  wags  his  tail—always  a  pleas- 
ant sort  of  dog  anyhow— but  they  don't  get  the  coat.  Then 
they  try  to  take  it  away  by  force.  That's  where  the  fight 
begins. ' ' 


68  La  Follette  of  WiscoTisin 

The  La  Follette  jaw  fits  the  rest  of  his  face.  His  chin  and 
mouth  are  those  of  the  speaker,  of  the  actor  if  you  please. 
What  shall  I  say,  who  saw  it  for  the  first  time  in  twenty-five 
years?  As  to  the  expression  of  this  face,  worn  by  twenty-five 
years  of  uphill  fighting,  what  shall  I  call  it?  They  say  he  has 
the  face  of  a  Jesuit.  Yes.  But  it  is  the  face  of  Lallemand, 
Jesuit  burned  at  the  stake  for  his  convictions,  and  smiling  in 
the  flames!  It  is  the  face  of  a  Jesuit,  but  let  us  believe  his 
church  is  the  catholic  one  of  humanity.  He  will  go  to  the 
stake  for  it. 

La  Follette  of  Wisconsin  is  human,  and  therefore  has  a 
stomach,  and  that  stomach  suffers  under  mental  tragedy,  as 
all  of  us  know.  The  La  Follette  stomach  went  to  pieces  four- 
teen years  ago  and  again  eight  years  ago.  Senator  Sawyer,  his 
former  friend  and  later  political  enemy,  was  responsible  for 
that.  Then  the  La  Follette  will  came  into  play.  He  briefed 
his  stomach.  He  read  everything  he  could  find  in  the  records 
about  stomachs— ever  case,  every  decision.     He  won. 

He  has  not  eaten  meat  for  four  years,  makes  his  diet  largely 
of  nuts  and  grains  and  milk,  and  yet  today  is  the  picture  of  an 
athlete!  fHe  exercises  regularly  each  day,  eats  cautiously,  sys- 
tematicalTy,  drinks  temperately  and  treats  himself  as  a  fight- 
ing machine.  His  arm  today  is  as  hard  as  nails,  his  eye  bright 
and  keen,  his  nervous  vigor  so  tremendous  that  he  will  wear 
out  man  after  man  in  a  long  session  of  work.  He  is  the  most 
Japanese-like,  the  most  scientific  fighter  in  politics  today,  and 
the  one  with  least  of  the  grand-stand  about  him.  He  looks 
upon  himself  simply  as  a  machine  for  the  accomplishment  of 
ideas— of  ideas  which  we  will  not  call  ambitions  but  purposes. 

I  told  Governor  La  FolUette  that  I  remembered  him  and  had 
done  so  for  twenty-five  years.  This  brought  out  a  nice  artifi- 
cial, political  smile.  Then  I  told  him  about  lago,  and  he  smiled 
a  real  smile,  a  human  one.  Then  I  told  him  about  the  little 
tragedy  which  happened  out  in  Iowa  twenty-five  years  ago— 
something  in  his  own  line  as  I  thought.  Unawares  I  went 
under  his  guard.  The  man's  eyes  filled  with  tears.  His  lip 
quivered.  The  secret  of  much  of  his  succcess  was  out!  He 
has  the  magnetism  of  understanding  and  sympathy,  and  mag- 
netism backed  by  will  and  purpose  and  honesty  can  do  much, 
can  do  all. 


Emerson  Hough  69 

Such  are  some  of  the  reasons  why  they  cannot  beat  La  Fol- 
lette  of  Wisconsin.  Understanding  and  sympathy  and  actual 
knowledge  of  his  people,  a  sincere  conviction,  a  tremendous 
concentration  of  purpose,  a  clean  personal  life— these  things 
are  so  much  greater  than  the  common,  arrogant  power  that 
goes  with  money  and  corruption  in  politics  that  the  progress 
of  La  Follete  of  Wisconsin  has  been  a  thing  foregone  and 
assured. 

But  they  had  called  the  man  an  orator,  an  actor,  a  pretender,  I 
a  Jesuit.  It  remained  to  sting  this  strange  exterior  and  to 
change  the  result.  "La  Follette,"  I  said,  ''because  of  that  lit- 
tle tragedy  out  in  Iowa  I  am  not  a  congressman  or  a  governor, 
but  a  newspaper  man.  I  have  one  brutal  question  to  ask, 
which  any  American  has  the  right  to  ask:  Who  has  won  this 
victory,Governor  La  Follette  or  the  people  of  Wisconsin,  Sena- 
tor La  Follette  or  the  people  of  Wisconsin?  Are  you  fighting 
for  La  Follette  or  for  Wisconsin?  For  yourself  or  for  the 
people?     Are  you  a  politician,  or  are  you  a  real  man?" 

After  all,  brutality  is  sometimes  efficient!  I  shall  not  for- 
get the  expression  which  came  upon  his  face.  It  could  not 
have  been  done  by  artifice  or  by  accident.  The  man  is  sin- 
cere. He  is  real.  His  ambition  is  not  a  personal  ambition 
but  a  great  purpose.  It  is  something  bigger  and  better.  It  is 
manhood.  It  is  bigness.  How  many  men  did  you  ever  see 
who  put  any  sort  of  string  upon  the  acceptance  of  a  seat  in 
the  senate  of  the  United  States?  When  the  news  of  the  La 
Follette  conditional  terms  came  out  I  for  one  saw  confirmation 
of  the  answer  he  gave  to  that  frank  and  brutal  question  which 
any  American  has  the  right  to  ask  of  any  political  officer,  but 
which  few  Americans  do  ask.  The  answer  and  the  later  con- 
firmation are  the  base  of  a  great  hope  that  America  will  find  a 
man.  La  Follette  of  Wisconsin  is  not  working  for  himself, 
but  for  an  idea,  a  principle,  a  purpose. 

This  nomination  for  the  senate  came  to  him  ^inee  that  day. 
He  accepted  it  only  on  the  condition  that  the  Wisconsin  idea 
shall  win  at  home.     That  is  not  politics. 

La  Follette  of  Wisconsin  is  honest.  He  is  a  zealot,  a  zealot 
of  understanding  and  sympathy.  He  has  been  tortured  before 
now.     He  wiU  go  to  the  stake  if  need  be. 


70  La  Follette  of  Wisconsin 

Does  the  past  of  La  Follette  of  Wisconsin,  does  the  character 
of  this  strange  man,  fit  him  to  be  what  is  called  presidential 
timber?  How  unspeakably  cheap  a  question!  The  great  ques- 
tion is  simply  whether  or  not  America  is  to  have  a  man.  We 
can  always  have  a  president. 

f  In  or  out  of  office,  in  the  senate  or  afterward,  in  yet  higher 
(office  or  otherwise.  La  Follette  of  Wisconsin  is  too  great  and 
Igame  and  good  a  man  not  to  be  heard  of  in  public.  His  idea 
of  teaching  the  people  the  truth,  and  then  of  leaving  the  issue 
with  the  people  is  too  sane  and  too  sound  and  revolutionary  an 
idea  not  to  attain  swift  prominence.  Under  monopoly  lies  un- 
Ijust  discrimination  in  transportation  charges.  Back  of  those 
;  unjust  charges  are  large  political  figures.  But  back  of  these 
figures,  these  office  holders,  is  the  secret  Australian  ballot,  at 
the  beginning,  at  the  primaries,  at  the  caucus.  That  is  the 
Wisconsin  La  Follette  idea. 

It  it  a  great  and  valid  idea.  Watch  it  travel,  watch  it  run, 
watch  it  perform.  It  will  win  or  preserve  Magna  Charta  for 
America. 

Elect  Robert  M.  La  Follete  president  of  the  United  States? 
It  is  immaterial.  As  to  that,  whether  he  be  governor  or  sena- 
tor, it  is  the  present  determined  purpose  of  his  life  to  go  upon 
the  platform  before  the  people  in  his  own  state  and  elsewhere. 
There  lies  his  great  future.  He  has  briefed  many  things  be- 
sides Shakespeare.  He  is  very  close  to  the  people  whom  he 
addresses,  and  therein  lies  his  strength.  Above  all,  he  knows 
the  great  power  of  the  women  of  America. 

Your  own  wife  is  a  far  better  politician,  a  far  better  social 
economist  than  yourself,  no  matter  who  you  may  be.  No 
politician  can  fool  her,  and  that  almost  any  sort  of  a  politician 
may  fool  you  is  something  that  you  may  easily  prove  by  exam- 
ining the  records.  The  woman  of  the  house  knows  that  it  costs 
forty  per  cent  more  to  live  in  America  than  it  did  ten  years 
ago.  You  cannot  fool  her  in  regard  to  that  for  a  moment,  nor 
explain  it  away  from  her  mind.  She  knows  that  something  is 
wrong.  It  takes  but  a  very  poor  sort  of  La  Follette  to  show 
her  that  monopoly  is  at  the  base  of  that,  and  discrimination 
under  monopoly,  and  corruption  under  both.  That  doctrine 
wins.     It  may  mean  the  ruin  of  the  present  republican  party, 


Emerson  Hough  71 

which  for  twenty  years  has  been  faithless  to  the  trust  reposed 
in  it,  which  for  twenty  years  has  been  permitting  the  ruin  and 
oppression  of  the  American  people.     Go  before  the  women  of 
America  and  ask  them  what  they  care  for  presidents,  for  the 
republican   party,   for   the    democratic   party.     They   will   tell 
you  that  what  they  want  is  one  man  in  whom  they  can  believe, 
one  honest  man  who  can  take  off  that  forty  per  cent.     Granted 
that,  the  people  will  take  care  of  the  party.     It  is  time  now  for 
a  trading  of  the  names  of  the  two  great  parties  of  America,  if  ^ 
not  for  the  organization  of  a  party  of  actual  honesty  and  actual  ■ 
accomplishment;   a  party  which  briefs  its  case,   its  doctrines,/ 
and  then  goes  before  the  people ;  a  party  which  looks  upon  its- 
chosen  officials  as  servants  and  not  its  masters.     That  is  th 
La  Follette  idea. 

For  these  reasons— which  will  be  more  obvious  twenty-five 
years  from  now,  or  four  years  from  now,  than  they  are  today, 
America  needs  a  man;  and  for  these  reasons  La  Follette  of 
Wisconsin  is  entitled  to  prominence  in  the  popular  considera- 
tion of  available  material. 

Theodore  Roosevelt,  minus  Roosevelt,  would  always  have 
been  a  big  man.  Even  plus  himself  he  has  his  chance  today. 
He  has  his  chance  to  make  that  subtraction.  He  has  his  op- 
portunity to  go  to  the  stake  for  his  conviction,  and  the  people 
will  love  him  for  it.  That  love  is  worth  more  than  the  ballots 
which  elected  him  to  office.  The  captains  and  the  kings  depart. 
They  are  forgotten.  But  the  people  cherish  forever  their  great 
m:en,  their  humble  men. 

Folk  of  Missouri,  plus  experience,  may  be  a  big  man.  He 
has  his  chance  to  make  that  addition. 

Bryan  of  Nebraska,  minus  free  silver,  would  be  a  big  man. 
It  would  embarrass  him  to  make  the  subtraction. 

Deneen  of  Illinois,  plus  experience,  may  perhaps  grow,  may 
perhaps  forget  to  be  a  politician. 

La  Follette  of  Wisconsin,  plus  a  permanently  reconstructed 
stomach,  is  a  big  man.  He  will  go  to  the  stake  if  need  be.  He 
will  not  quit.     And  the  Wisconsin  idea  will  grow. 


THE  STORY  OF  GOVERNOR  LA  FOLLETTE. 

WISCONSIN    A    STATE    WHERE    THE    PEOPLE    HAVE    RESTORED    REPREl- 
SENTATIVE    GOVERNMENT. 


By  LINCOLN  STEFFENS. 


The  story  of  the  state  of  Wisconsin  is  the  story  of  Governor 
La  Follette.  He  is  the  head  of  the  state.  Not  many  governors 
are  that.  Most  governors  are  simply  ''safe  men"  set  up  as 
figureheads  by  the  System,  which  is  the  actual  government  that 
is  growing  up  in  the  United  States  in  place  of  the  "govern- 
ment of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people,  which 
shall  not  perish  from  the  earth."  The  System,  as  we  have 
found  it,  is  a  reorganization  of  the  political  and  financial  pow- 
ers of  the  state  which,  for  boodle  of  one  sort  or  another,  the 
leading  politicians  of  both  parties  conduct  the  government  in 
the  interest  of  those  leading  businesses  which  seek  special  privi- 
leges and  pay  for  them  with  bribes  and  the  "moral"  support 
of  graft.  And  a  ' '  safe  man "  is  a  man  who  takes  his  ease,  hon- 
ors and  orderes,  lets  the  boss  reign,  and  makes  no  trouble  for 
the  System. 

There  is  trouble  in  Wisconsin.  Bounded  on  the  east  by 
Lake  Michigan,  on  the  north  by  Lake  Superior,  on  the  west  by 
the  Mississippi  River,  Wisconsin  is  a  convenient,  rich  and  beau- 
tiful state.  New  England  lumbermen  stripped  fortunes  of  for- 
est off  of  it,  and,  uncovering  a  fat  soil  watered  by  a  thousand 
lakes  and  streams,  settlers  poured  in  from  Northwestern  Eu- 
rope and  made  this  new  Northwest  ripen  into  dairy  farms  and 
counties  of  golden  wheat.  From  the  beginning  Wisconsin  has 
paid,  nor  is  there  now  any  material  depression  or  financial  dis- 
tress in  the  state.  Yet  there  is  trouble  in  Wisconsin.  What  is 
the  matter?     I  asked  a  few  hundred  people  out  there  to  ex- 

Copyright,   1904,    by  The   S.    S.    McClure  Co.,   all  rights  reserved. 
Published  by  permission. 


74  The  Story  of  Governor  La  Follette 

plain  it,  and  though  some  of  them  smiled  and  others  frowned, 
all  gave  substantially  one  answer:  ''La  Folletteism. "  They 
blame  one  man. 


THE   STORY  OF 

Robert  Marion  La  Follette  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Dane 
county,  "Wisconsin,  June  1.4th,  1855.  His  father  was  a  Ken- 
tucky ^fed  French  Huguenot;  his  mother  was  Scotch-Irish. 
When  the  boy  was  eight  months  old  the  father  died,  leaving 
the  mother  and  four  children,  and,  at  the  age  of  fourteen, 
''Little  Bob,"  as  his  followers  still  call  him,  became  the  head 
of  the  family.  He  worked  the  farm  until  he  was  nineteen 
years  old,  then  sold  it  and  moved  the  family  to  Madison,  the 
county  seat  and  capital  of  the  state.  If,  with  this  humble  start, 
La  Follette  had  gone  into  business,  his  talents  might  have  made 
him  a  captain  of  industry ;  and  then,  no  matter  how  he  won  it, 
his  success  would  have  made  him  an  inspiration  for  youth.  But 
he  made  a  mistake.  He  entered  the  state  university  with  the 
class  of  79.  Even  so,  he  might  have  got  over  his  college  educa- 
tion, but  his  father's  French  blood  (perhaps)  stirred  to  senti- 
ment and  the  boy  thrilled  for  glory.  He  had  a  bent  for  ora- 
tory. In  those  days  debates  ranked  in  the  western  colleges 
where  football  does  now,  and  "Bob"  La  Follette  won,  in  his 
senior  year,  all  the  oratorical  contests,  home,  state,  and  inter- 
state. His  interstate  oration  was  on  lago,  and  his  round  actor 's 
head  was  turned  to  the  stage,  till  John  McCullough  advised 
him  that  his  short  stature  was  against  that  career.  Also,  he 
says,  his  debts  chained  him  to  the  earth.  He  had  to  go  to  work, 
and  he  went  to  work  in  a  law  office.  In  five  months  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar,  and  in  February,  1880,  he  opened  an  office 
and  began  to  practice.  A  year  or  so  later  the  young  lawyer 
was  running  for  an  office. 

r ' '  They ' '  say  in  Wisconsin  that  La  Follette  is  ambitious ;  that 
/he  cannot  be  happy  in  private  life;  that,  an  actor  born,  he 
has  to  be  on  the  stage.  I  should  say  that  a  man  who  can  move 
men,  as  La  Follette  can,  would  seek  a  career  where  he  could 
enjoy  the  visible  effect  of  his  eloquence.  But  suppose  "they" 
are  right  and  the  man  is  vain;— I  don't  care.     Do  you?     I  have 


Lincoln  Steffens  75 

noticed  that  a  public  official  who  steals,  or,  like  Lieutenant- 
Governor  Lee,  of  Missouri,  betrays  bis  constituents,  may  pro- 
pose to  be  governor,  without  being  accused  of  ambition. 
* '  They ' '  seem  to  think  a  boodler  's  aspirations  are  natural.  He 
may  have  a  hundred  notorious  vices;  they  do  not  matter.  But 
a  ''reformer,"  a  man  who  wants  to  serve  his  people,  he  must 
be  a  white-robed,  spotless  angel,  or  "they"  will  whisper  that 
he  is— what?  A  thief  1  Oh,  no;  that  is  nothing;  but  that  he 
is  ambitious.  This  is  the  System  at  work.  It  was  the  System 
in  Missouri  that,  after  spending  in  vain  thousands  of  dollars 
to  "get  something  on  Folk,"  passed  about  the  damning  rumor 
that  he  was  ambitious.  And  so  in  Wisconsin,  "they"  will  take 
you  into  a  back  room  and  warn  you  that  La  Follette  is  ambi- 
tious. I  asked  if  he  was  dishonest.  Oh  dear,  no.  Not  that. 
Not  a  man  in  the  state,  not  the  bitterest  foe  of  his  that  I  saw, 
questioned  La  Follette 's  personal  integrity.  So  1  answered  that 
we  wanted  men  of  ambition ;  that  if  we  could  get  men  to  serve 
us  in  public  life,  not  for  graft,  not  for  money,  but  for  ambi- 
tion's sake,  we  should  make  a  great  step  forward. 

Mr.  La  Follette  has  ambition.  He  confessed  as  much  to  me, 
but  he  is  after  a  job,  not  an  office;  Governor  La  Follette 's  am- 
bition is  higher  and  harder  to  achieve  than  any  office  in  the 
land. 

A   POLITICIAN   AND    HIS  FIRST   OFFICE. 

]  The  first  office  he  sought  was  that  of  district  attorney  of  Dane 
county,^aii'd7  "though  his  enemies  declare  that  the  man  is  a  radi- 
cal and  was  from  the  start  a  radical,  I  gathered  from  this  same 
source  that  his  only  idea  at  this  time  was  to  "pose"  before 
juries  "and  win  cases."     Mr.  La  Follette  married  in  this  year 
(a  classmate)  and  he  says  he  thought  of  the  small  but  regular 
salary  of  the  district  attorney.     However  this  may  be,  he  won  j 
the  office  and  he  won  his  cases,  so  he  earned  his  salaryf   Dia    I 
trict  Attorney  La  Follette  made  an  excellent  record.     That  is   ) 
freely  admitted,  but  my  attention  was  called  to  the  manner  of  ' 
his  entrance  into  politics,  as  proof  of  another  charge  that  is 
made  against  him  in  Wisconsin.     "They"  say  that  La  Follette 
is  a  politician. 

"They"  say  in  Missouri  that  Folk  is  a  politician.     "They" 


76  The  Story  of  Governor  La  Follette 

say  in  Illinois  that  Deneen  is  a  politician.  "They"  say  in  the 
United  States  that  President  Roosevelt  is  a  politicitn.  "They" 
are  right.  These  men  are  politicians.  But  what  of  it?  We 
have  blamed  our  politicians  so  long  for  the  corruption  of  our 
politics  that  they  themselves  seem  to  have  been  convinced  that 
a  politician  is  necessarily  and  inherently  bad.  He  isn't,  of 
course.  Only  a  bad  politician  is  bad,  and  we  have  been  discov- 
ering in  our  studies  of  graft  that  a  bad  business  man  is  worse. 
To  succeed  in  reform,  a  man  has  to  understand  politics  and 
play  the  game,  or  the  bad  business  man  will  catch  him  and 
then,  what  will  he  be?  He  will  be  an  "impracticable  re- 
former," and  that,  we  all  know,  is  awful. 

RUNNING  AROUND   THE  RING. 

Bob"  La  Follette  is  a  politician.  >  Irish,  as  well  as  French, 
he  was  born  a  master  of  the  game  and  he  did  indeed  prove  his 
genius  in  that  first  campaign.  Single-handed,  he  beat  the  Sys- 
tem. Not  that  he  realized  then  that  there  was  such  a  thing.  All 
the  young  candidate  knew  when  he  began  was  that  E.  W.  Keyes, 
the  postmaster  at  Madison,  was  the  republican  state  boss,  and, 
of  course,  absolute  master  of  Dane  county,  where  he  lived. 
,  La  Follette  was  a  republican,  but  he  had  no  claim  of  machine 
service  to  the  office  he  wanted,  and  he  felt  that  Boss  Keyes 
and  Philip  L.  Spooner,  the  local  leader,  would  be  against  him, 
so  he  went  to  work  quietly]  He  made  an  issue:  La  Follette 
always  has  an  issue.  It  had  been  the  practice  of  district  at- 
torneys to  have  assistants  at  the  county's  expense,  and  La  Fol- 
lette promised,  if  elected,  to  do  all  his  own  work.  i_With  this 
promise  he  and  his  friends  canvassed  the  county,  house  by 
house,  farm  by  farm,  and,  partly  because  they  were  busy  by 
day,  partly  because  they  ,had  to  proceed  secretly,  much  of  this 
politics  was  done  at  night.  The  scandal  of  such  "underhand 
methods"  is  an  offense  to  this  day  to  the  men  who  were  beaten 
by  them.  Mr.  "Phil"  Spooner  (the  Senators'  brother)  speaks 
with  contempt  of  La  Follette 's  "night  riders."  He  says  the 
La  Follette  workers  went  about  on  horseback  after  dark  and 
that  he  used  to  hear  them  gallop  up  to  their  leader's  house 
late  at  night.     Of  course  he  knows  now  that  they  were  coming 


Lincoln  Steffens  77 

to  report  and  plot,  but  lie  didn't  know  it  then.  And  Boss 
Keyes,  who  is  still  postmaster  at  Madison,  told  me  that  he  had 
no  inkling  of  the  conspiracy  till  the  convention  turned  up  with 
the  delegates  nearly  all  instructed  for  La  Follette  for  district 
attorney.     Then  it  was  too  late  to  do  anything. 

Boss  Keyes  thought  this  showed  another  defect  in  the  char- 
acter of  La  Follette.  "They"  say  in  Wisconsin  that  the  gov- 
ernor is  ''selfish,  dictatorial,  and  will  not  consult."  ''They" 
said  that  about  Folk  in  Missouri,  when  he  refused  to  appoint 
assistants  dictated  by  Boss  Butler.  Wall  Street  said  it  about 
Roosevelt  when  he  refused  to  counsel  with  Morgan  upon  the 
advisability  of  bringing  the  Northern  Securities  case,  but  the 
west  likes  that  in  Roosevelt.  The  west  said  it  about  Parker  when 
he  sent  his  gold  telegram  to  the  democratic  national  convention, 
but  the  east  likes  that  in  Parker.  There  must  be  something 
back  of  this  charge,  and  a  boss  should  be  able  to  explain  it. 
Boss  Keyes  cleared  it  up  for  me.  .  He  said  that  at  the  time 
"Bob"  was  running  for  district  attorney,  "a  few  of  us  here 
were— well,  we  were  managing  the  party  and  we  were  usually 
consulted  about— about  things  generally.  But  La  Follette,  he 
went  ahead  on  his  own  hook,  and  never  said  a  word  to— well, 
to  me  or  any  of  us."  So  it's  not  a  matter  of  dictation,  but  of 
who  dictates,  and  what.  In  the  case  of  La  Follette,  his  dic- 
tatorial selfishness  consisted  in  this,  that  he  "saw"  the  people^ 
of  the  county  and  the  delegates,  not  "us,"  not  the  System.  \ 
No  wonder  he  was  elected.  What  is  more,  he  was  re-elected; 
he  kept  his  promises,  and,  the  second  time  he  ran,  La  Follette 
was  the  only  republican  elected  on  the  county  ticket. 

During  the  two  terms  of  District  Attorney  La  Follette,  im- 
portant changes  were  occurring  in  the  Wisconsin  state  system 
beyond  his  ken.  Boss  Keyes  was  deposed  and  Philetus  Sawyer 
became  the  head  of  the  state,  This  does  not  mean  that  Sawyer 
was  elected  governor;  we  have  nothing  to  do  with  governors 
yet.  Sawyer  was  a  United  States  senator. ;  While  Keyes  was 
boss,  the  head  of  the  state  was  in  the  postoffice  at  Madison, 
and  it  represented,  not  the  people,  but  the  big  business  inter- 
ests of  the  state,  principally  lumber  and  the  railways,  which 
worked  well  together  and  with  Keyes.^  There  were  several 
scandals  during  this  "good  fellow's"  iong  reign,  but  big  busi- 


78  The  Story  of  Governor  La  Follette 

ness  had  no  complaint  to  make  against  him.  The  big  graft  in 
the  Northwestern  state,  however,  was  lumber,  and  the  typical 
way  of  getting  hold  of  it  wholesale,  was  for  the  United  States 
to  make  to  the  state  grants  which  the  state  passed  on  to  rail- 
way companies  to  help  ''develop  the  resources  of  the  state. '* 
[Railroad  men  were  in  lumber  companies,  just  as  lumber  men 
were  in  the  railway  companies,  so  the  railway  companies  sold 
cheap  to  the  lumber  companies,  which  cleared  the  land — for  the 
settlers.  This  was  business,  and  while  it  was  necessary  to  ' '  take 
care"  of  the  legislature,  the  original  source  of  business  was  the 
congress,  and  that  was  the  place  for  the  head  of  the  System. 
Keyes  had  wished  to  go  to  the  senate,  but  Sawyer  thought  he 
might  as  well  go  himself.  He  had  gone,  and  now,  when  Keyes 
was  willing  to  take  the  second  seat,  the  business  men  decided 
that,  since  it  was  all  a  matter  of  business,  they  might  as  well 
take  it  out  of  politics.  _Thus  Senator  Sawyer  became  boss,  and, 
since  he  was  a  lumberman,  it  was  no  more  than  fair  that  the 
other  seat  should  go  to  the  railroads.  So  the  big  business  men 
got  together  and  they  bought  the  junior  United  States  senator- 
ship  for  the  Honorable  John  C.  Spooner.] 


At  Marinette,  Wisconsin,  lives  today  a  rich  old  lumberman, 
Isaac  Stephenson.  He  was  associated  for  years  with  Senator 
Sawyer  and  the  other  enemies  of  the  republic  in  Wisconsin, 
and  he  left  them  because  they  balked  an  ambition  of  his.  Hav- 
ing gone  over,  however,  he  began  to  see  things  as  they  are,  and 
no  man  today  is  more  concerned  over  the  dangers  to  business 
of  the  commercial  corruption  of  government  than  this  veteran 
who  confesses  that  he  spent  a  quarter  of  a  million  in  politics. 

Once  he  and  Senator  Sawyer  were  comparing  notes  on  the 
cost  to  them  of  United  States  senatorships. 

"Isaac,"  said  Sawyer,  "how  much  did  you  put  in  to  get  the 
legislature  for  Spooner  that  time?" 

"It  cost  me  about  twenty-two  thousand,  Philetus.  How 
much  did  you  put  in?" 

"Why,"  said  Sawyer,  surprised,  "it  cost  me  thirty  thousand. 
I  thought  it  cost  you  thirty. 


Lincoln  Stejfens  79 

"No,  it  cost  me  thirty  thousand  to  get  it  for  you  when  you 
ran. ' ' 

Friends  of  mine  who  are  friends  of  Senator  Spooner  in 
Washington,  besought  me,  when  they  heard  I  was  going  to  Wis- 
consin, to  "remember  that  Spooner  is  a  most  useful  man  in 
the  senate,"  and  I  know  and  shall  not  forget  that.  Able,  de- 
liberate, resourceful,  wise,  I  believe  Senator  Spooner  comes 
about  as  near  as  any  man  we  have  in  that  august  chamber  today 
to  statesmanship,  and  I  understand  he  loathes  many  of  the 
practices  of  politics.  But  the  question  to  ask  about  a  repre- 
sentative is,  what  does  he  represent? 

Senator  Spooner,  at  home,  represented  the  railroads  of  his 
state.  He  served  a  term, in  the  Wisconsin  assembly,  and  he 
served  the  railroads  thereri  After  that  he  served  them  as  a 
lobbyist.  I  do  not  mean  that  he  went  to  Madison  now  and 
then  to  make  arguments  for  his  client.  Mr.  Spooner  spent 
the  session  there.  Nor  do  I  mean  to  say  that  he  paid  bribes 
to  legislators ;  there  are  honest  lobbyists.  ^  But  I  do  say  that  Mr. 
Spooner  peddled  passes,  and  any  railroad  man  or  any  grafter 
will  tell  you  that  this  is  a  cheap  but  most  effective  form  of 
legislative  corruption.]  United  States  Senator  Spooner,  then, 
is  a  product,  a  flower,  perhaps,  but  none  the  less  he  is  a  growth 
out  of  the  System,  the  System  which  is  fighting  Governor 
La  Follette. 

The  System  was  fighting  La  Follete  'way  back  in  those  days, 
but  the  young  orator  did  not  know  it.  He  was  running  for 
congress.  So  far  as  I  can  make  out,  he  was  seeking  only  more 
glory  for  his  French  blood  and  a  wider  field  to  shine  in,  but 
he  went  after  his  French  satisfaction  in  a  Scotch-Irish  fashion. 
Boss  Keyes  told  me  about  it.  Keyes  had  been  reduced  to  the 
control  of  his  congressional  district,  and,  as  he  said,  "We  had 
it  arranged  to  nominate  another  man.  The  place  did  not  be- 
long to  Dane  county.  It  was  another  county's  turn,  but  Bob 
didn  't  consult  us. ' '  Bob  was  consulting  his  constituents  again, 
and  his  night  riders  were  out.  The  System  heard  of  it  earlier 
than  in  the  district  attorney  campaign,  and  Keyes  and  Phil 
Spooner  and  the  other  leaders  were  angry.  Keyes  did  want  to 
rule  that  congressional  district;  it  was  all  he  had,  and  Phil 
Spooner   (who  was  now  the  head  of  the  street  railway  system 


80  The  Story  of  Governor  La  Follette 

of  Madison)  sensed  the  danger  in  this  self-reliant  young 
candidate. 

"What's  this  I  hear  about  you  being  a  candidate  for  Con- 
gress?" he  said  to  La  Follette  one  day.  ''Don't  you  know  no- 
body can  go  to  congress  without  our  approval?  You're  a 
fool." 

^  But  La  Follette 's  men  were  working,  and  they  carried  all  ex- 
cept three  caucuses  (primaries  that  are  something  like  town 
meetings)  against  the  ring.  The  ring  bolted,  but  the  people 
elected  him;  the  people  sent  La  Follette  to  congress  at  the 
same  time  they  elected  the  legislators  that  sent  John  C.  Spooner 
to  the  United   States  senate.  \ 

THE    SYSTEM    AT    WASHINGTON. 

When  La  Follette  had  been  in  Washington  a  few  weeks, 
Senator  Sawyer  found  him  out  and  became  "like  a  father"  to 
him.  "Our  boy"  he  called  him,  for  La  Follette  was  the 
"youngest  member."  The  genial  old  lumberman  took  him 
about  and  introduced  him  to  the  heads  of  departments  and 
finally,  one  day,  asked  him  what  committee  he  would  like  to  go 
on.  La  Follette  said  he  would  prefer  some  committee  where 
his  practice  in  the  law  might  make  him  useful,  and  Sawyer 
though  "Public  Lands"  would  about  do.  He  would  "fix  it." 
Thus  the  System  was  coming  after  him,  but  it  held  back ;  there 
must  have  been  a  second  thought.  For  the  speaker  put  La 
Follette  not  on  "Public  Lands,"  but  on  "Indian  Affairs." 

The  governor  today  will  tell  you  with  a  relish  that  he  was 
so  green  then  that  he  began  to  "read  up  on  Indians";  he  read 
especially  Boston  literature  on  the  subject,  and  he  thought  of 
the  speeches  he  could  make  on  Indian  wrongs  and  rights.  But 
there  was  no  chance  for  an  orator.  The  committee  worked 
and  "our  boy"  read  bills.  Most  of  these  bills  were  hard  read- 
ing and  didn't  mean  much  when  read.  But  by  and  by  one 
came  along  that  was  "so  full  of  holes  that,"  as  the  governor 
says,  "even  I  could  see  through  it."  It  provided  for  a  sale  of 
pine  on  the  Menominee  reservation  in  Wisconsin.  Mr.  La  Fol- 
lette took  it  to  the  (Cleveland's)  Commissioner  of  Indian  Af- 
fairs, and  this  official  said  he  thought  it  "  a  little  the  worst  bill 


Lincoln  Steffens  81 

of  the  kind  that  I  have  ever  seen.  Where  did  it  come  from  ? ' ' 
They  looked  and  they  saw  that  it  had  been  introduced  by  the 
member  from  Oshkosh  (Sawyer's  home  district).  None  the 
less,  Mr.  La  Follette  wanted  a  report  and  the  commissioner 
said  he  could  have  one  if  he  would  sit  down  and  write  for  it. 
The  report  so  riddled  the  bill  that  it  lay  dead  in  the  com- 
mittee. One  day  the  congressman  who  introduced  it  asked 
about  it. 

''Bob,  why  don't  you  report  my  billT'  he  asked. 

"Bill,"  said  Bob,  "did  you  write  that  bill?" 

"Why?" 

"It's  a  steal." 

"Let  it  die  then.  Don't  report  it.  I  introduced  it  because 
Sawyer  asked  me  to.  He  introduced  it  in  the  senate  and  it  is 
through  their  committee." 

Sawyer  never  mentioned  the  bill,  and  the  incident  was 
dropped  with  the  bill.  Some  time  after,  however,  a  similar 
incident  occurred,  and  this  time  Sawyer  did  mention  it.  The 
Indian  Affairs  committee  was  having  read,  at  the  rate  of  two 
hours  a  day,  a  long  bill  to  open  the  big  Sioux  Indian  reserva- 
tion in  Dakota,  by  selling  some  eleven  million  acres  right 
through  the  center.  It  was  said  to  be  a  measure  most  impor- 
tant to  South  Dakota,  and  no  one  objected  to  anything  till  the 
clerk  droned  out  a  provision  to  ratify  an  agreement  between 
the  Indians  and  certain  railroads  about  a  right  of  way  and  some 
most  liberal  grants  of  land  for  terminal  town  sites.  La  Fol- 
lette interrupted  and  he  began  to  talk  about  United  States 
statutes  which  provided  not  so  generously,  yet  amply,  for  land 
grants  to  railways,  when  a  congressman  from  a  neighboring 
state  leaned  over  and  said: 

Bob,  don 't  you  see  that  those  are  your  home  corporations  1 ' ' 

Bob  said  he  saw,  and  he  was  willing  to  grant  aU  the  land 
needed  for  railway  purposes,  but  none  for  town  site  schemes. 
When  the  committee  rose,  and  La  Follette  returned  to  his  seat 
in  the  house,  a  page  told  him  Senator  Sawyer  wanted  to  see 
him.  He  went  out  and  the  senator  talked  to  him  for  an  hour 
in  a  most  fatherly  way,  with  not  a  word  concerning  the  Sioux 
bill  till  they  were  about  to  separate.  Then,  quite  by  the  way, 
he  said: 
6 


82  The  Story  of  Governor  La  Follette 

''Oh,  say,  when  that  Sioux  Injun  bill  comes  up  there's  a  lit- 
tle provision  in  it  for  our  folks  which  I  wish  you  would  look 
after." 

La  Follette  said  the  bill  was  up  then,  that  they  had  reached 
the  "little  provision  for  our  folks,"  and  that  he  was  oppos- 
ing it. 

"Why,  is  that  so?"  said  Sawyer.  "Let's  sit  down  and—" 
they  had  another  hour,  on  town  sites.  It  was  no  use,  however. 
La  Follette  wouldn't  "consult."  Sawyer  gave  up  reasoning 
with  him,  but  he  didn't  give  up  "the  little  provision."  Politi- 
cal force  was  applied,  but  not  by  the  senior  senator.  The  Sys- 
tem had  other  agents  for  such  work. 

HENRY  c.  Payne's  part  in  the  system. 

T'" Henry  C.  Payne  arrived  on  the  scene.  Payne  was  chairman 
of  the  republican  state  central  committee  of  Wisconsin,  and  we 
have  seen  in  other  states  what  the  legislative  functions  of  that 
office  are.  ]  Payne  reached  Washington  forty-eight  hours  after 
La  Follette 's  balk,  and  he  went  at  him  hard.  All  sorts  of 
influence  were  brought  to  bear,  and  when  La  Follette  held  out, 
Payne  became  so  angry  that  he  expressed  himself— and  the 
spirit  of  the  System— in  public.  To  a  group  in  the  Ebbitt 
House  he  said: 

"La  Follette  is  a  damned  fool.  If  he  thinks  he  can  buck  a 
railroad  with  five  thousand  miles  of  continuous  line,  he'll  find 
he's  mistaken.     We'll  take  care  of  him  when  the  time  comes." 

The  state  machine  fought  the  congressman  in  his  own  dis- 
trict, and  so  did  Keyes  and  the  "old  regency"  at  Madison,  but 
La  Follette,  the  politician,  had  insisted  upon  a  congressman's 
patronage,  all  of  it,  and  he  had  used  it  to  strengthen  himself 
at  home.fL^  Follette  served  three  terms  in  congress,  and  when 
he  was  defeated  in^I8^90,  for  the  fourth,  he  went  down  with 
the  whole  party  in  Wisconsin.  This  complete  overthrow  of  the 
republicans  was  due  to  two  causes,  the  McKinley  tariff  (which 
La  Follette  on  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee  helped  to 
frame)  and  a  piece  of  state  school  legislation  which  angered 
the  foreign  and  Catholic  voters.  We  need  not  go  into  this, 
and  the  democratic  administration  which  resulted  bears  only 
indirectly  on  our  story. 


Lincoln  Steffens  83 

^  One  of  the  great  grafts  of  Wisconsin  (and  of  many  another 
state)  was  the  public  funds  in  the  keeping  of  the  state  treas- 
urer. The  republicans,  for  years,  had  deposited  these  moneys 
in  banks  that  stood  in  with  the  System,  and  the  treasurer 
shared  with  these  institutions  the  interest  and  profits.  He,  in 
turn,  "divided  up"  with  the  campaign  fund  and  the  party 
leaders.^  The  democrats  were  pledged  to  break  up  this  prac- 
tice and  sue  the  ex-treasurers.  Now  these  treasurers  were  not 
all  "good"  for  the  money,  and  when  the  suits  were  brought, 
as  they  were  in  earnest,  the  treasurers'  bondsmen  were  the  real 
defendants.  1  Chief  among  these  was  Senator  Sawyer,  the  boss 
who  had  chosen  the  treasurers  and  backed  them  and  the  prac- 
tice for  years.  Sawyer  was  alarmed.  It  was  estimated  that 
there  had  been  $30,000  a  year  in  the  graft  alone,  and  the  attor- 
ney-general was  going  back  twenty  years,  and  his  suits  were 
for  the  recovery  of  all  the  back  interest]  Several  hundred 
thousand  dollars  were  at  stake.  And  the  judge  before  whom 
the  cases  were  to  be  tried  was  Robert  J.  Siebecker,  brother-in- 
law  and  former  law  partner  of  Robert  M.  La  Follette. 

One  day  in  September,  1891,  La  Follette  received  from  Saw- 
yer a  letter  asking  for  a  meeting  in  the  Plankington  Hotel, 
Milwaukee.  The  letter  had  been  folded  first  with  the  letter 
head  on,  then  this  was  cut  off  and  the  sheet  refolded;  and,  as 
if  secrecy  was  important,  the  answer  suggested  by  Sawyer  was 
to  be  the  one  word  "yes"  by  wire.  La  Follette  wired  ''yes," 
and  the  two  men  met.  There  are  two  accounts  of  what  oc- 
curred. La  Follette  said  Sawyer  began  the  interview  with  the 
remark  that  "nobody  knows  that  I'm  to  meet  you  today";  he 
spoke  of  the  treasury  case  and  pulled  out  and  held  before  the 
young  lawyer  a  thick  roll  of  bills.  Sawyer's  subsequent  ex- 
planation was  that  he  proposed  only  to  retain  La  Follette,  who, 
however,  insists  that  Sawyer  offered  him  a  cash  bribe  for  his 
influence  with  Judge  Siebecker. 

Since  Sawyer  is  dead  now,  we  would  better  not  try  to  decide 
between  the  two  men  on  this  particular  case,  but  there  is  no 
doubt  of  one  general  truth :  that  Philetus  Sawyer  was  the  typi- 
cal captain  of  industry  in  politics;  he  debauched  the  politics 
of  his  state  with  money.  Old  Boss  Keyes  was  bad  enough,  but 
his  methods  were  political— patronage,  deals,  etc.,  and  he  made 


84  The  Story  of  Governor  La  Follette 

the  government  represent  special  interests.  But  when  the  mil- 
lionaire lumberman  took  charge,  he  came  with  money;  with 
money  he  beat  Keyes;  and  money,  his  and  his  friends',  was 
the  power  in  the  politics  of  his  regime... 

His  known  methods  caused  no  great  scandal  so  long  as  they 
were  confined  to  conventions  and  the  legislature,  but  the  courts 
of  Wisconsin  had  the  confidence  of  the  state,  and  the  approach 
of  money  to  them  made  people  angry.  And  the  story  was  out. 
La  Follette,  after  consultation  with  his  friends,  told  Judge  Sie- 
becker  what  had  happened,  and  the  judge  declined  to  hear  the 
case.  His  withdrawal  aroused  curiosity  and  rather  sensational 
conjectures.  Sawyer  denied  one  of  these,  and  his  account 
seeming  to  call  for  a  statement  from  La  follette,  the  young 
lawyer  told  his  story.  Sawyer  denied  it  and  everybody  took 
sides.  The  cases  were  tried,  the  state  won,  but  the  republican 
legislature,  pledged  though  it  was  to  recover  in  full,  com- 
promised.    So  the  System  saved  its  boss. 

But  the  System  had  raised  up  an  enemy  worthy  of  all  its 
power.  La  Follette  was  against  it.  "They"  say  in  Wisconsin 
that  he  is  against  the  railroads,  that  he  "hates"  corporate 
wealth.  It  is  true  the  bitterest  fights  he  has  led  have  been  for 
so-called  anti-railroad  lavvS,  but  "they"  forget  that  his  original 
quarrel  was  with  Sawyer  and  that,  if  hatred  was  his  impulse, 
it  probably  grew  out  of  the  treasury  case  ' '  insult. ' '  My  under- 
standing of  the  state  of  mind  is  that  before  that  incident.  La 
Follette  thought  only  of  continuing  his  congressional  career. 
After  it,  he  was  for  anything  to  break  up  the  old  Sawyer  ma- 
chine. Anyhow,  he  told  me  that,  after  the  Sawyer  meeting, 
he  made  up  his  mind  to  stay  home  and  break  up  the  System 
in  Wisconsin.  And  La  Follette  did  not  originate  all  that  legis- 
lation. Wisconsin  is  one  of  the  four  original  granger  states. 
There  seems  to  have  been  always  some  discontent  with  the  abuse 
of  the  power  of  the  railways,  their  corrupting  influence,  and 
their  escape  from  just  taxation.  So  far  as  I  can  make  out, 
however,  some  of  the  modern  measures  labeled  La  Folletteism, 
sprang  from  the  head  of  a  certain  lean,  clean  Vermont  farmer, 
who  came  to  the  legislature  from  Knapp,  Wisconsin.  I  went  to 
Knapp.  It  was  a  long  way  around  for  me,  but  it  paid,  for 
now  I  can  say  that  I  know  A.  R.  Hall.     He  is  a  man.     I  have 


Lincoln  Steffens  85 

seen  in  my  day  some  seventeen  men,  real  men,  and  none  of 
them  is  simpler,  truer,  braver  than  this '  ex-leader  of  the  Wis- 
consin assembly;  none  thinks  he  is  more  of  a  failure  and  none 
is  more  of  a  success. 

When  La  Follette  began  his  open  fight  against  the  System 
in  1894,  he  took  up  the  issues  of  inequalities  in  taxation,  ma- 
chine politics  and  primary  elections. 

In  1894  La  Follette  carried  his  issues  to  the  state  convention 
with  a  candidate  for  governor.  Nils  P.  Haugen,  a  Norse-Ameri- 
can who  had  served  in  congress  and  as  a  state  railroad  com- 
missioner. La  Follette  and  his  followers  turned  up  with  one- 
third  of  the  delegates.  The  regulars,  or  "Stalwarts,"  as  they 
afterwards  were  called,  were  divided,  but  Sawyer,  declaring  it 
was  anybody  to  beat  La  Follette,  managed  a  combination  on 
W.  H.  Upham,  a  lumberman,  and  Haugen  was  beaten.  Hall 
was  there,  by  the  way,  with  an  anti-pass  plank,  and  Hall  also 
was  beaten. 

APPEALING   TO   THE  VOTERS  DIRECT. 

The  contest  served  only  to  draw  a  line  between  the  La  Fol- 
lette '"Halfbreeds"  and  the  ''Stalwarts,"  and  both  factions 
went  to  work  on  their  organizations.  Upham  was  elected,  and 
the  Stalwarts,  who  had  been  living  on  federal  patronage,  now 
had  the  state.  They  rebuilt  their  state  machine.!  La  Follette, 
with  no  patronage,  continued  to  organize,  and  his  method  was 
that  which  he  had  applied  so  successfully  in  his  early  independ- 
ent fights  for  district  attorney  and  congressman.  He  went 
straight  to  the  voters. 

"They"  say  in  Wisconsin  that  La  Follette  is  a  demagogue, 
and  if  it  is  demagogy  to  go'  thus  straight  to  the  voters,  then 
"they"  are  right.  But  then  Folk  is  a  demagogue  and  so  are 
all  thorough-going  reformers.  [^La  Follette  from  the  beginning 
has  asked,  not  the  bosses,  but  the  people  for  what  he  wanted, 
and  after  1894  he  simply  broadened  his  field  and  redoubled  his 
efforts.  He  circularized  the  state,  he  made  speeches  every, 
chance  he  got,  and  if  the  test  of  demagogy  is  the  tone  and  style 
of  a  man's  speeches,  La  Follette  is  the  opposite  of  a  dema- 
gogue.    Capable  of  fierce  invective,  his  oratory  is  impersonal; 


86  The  Story  of  Governor  La  FoUette 

passionate  and  emotional  himself,  his  speeches  are  temperate. 
Some  of  them  are  so  loaded  with  facts  and  such  closely  knit 
arguments,  that  they  demand  careful  reading,  and  their  effect 
is  traced  to  his  delivery,  which  is  forceful,  emphatic  and  fasci- 
nating. His  earnestness  carries  the  conviction  of  sincerity,  and 
the  conviction  of  his  honesty  of  purpose  he  has  planted  all  over 
the  state  by  his  Halfbreed  methods.^ 

What  were  the  methods  of  the  Sawyer-Pajme-Spooner  repub- 
licans? In  1896  the  next  governor  of  Wisconsin  had  to  be 
chosen.  The  republicans  could  not  run  Governor  Upham  again. 
As  often  happens  to  "safe  men,"  the  System  had  used  him  up; 
his  appointments  had  built  up  the  machine,  his  approval  had 
sealed  the  compromise  of  the  treasury  cases.  Some  one  else 
must  run.  To  pick  out  his  successor,  the  Stalwart  leaders  held 
a  meeting  at  St.  Louis,  where  they  were  attending  a  national 
convention,  and  they  chose  for  governor  Edward  W.  Scofield. 
There  was  no'  demagogy  about  that. 

LA   POLLETTE   BEATEN   WITH   MONEY. 

La  Follette  wished  to  run  himself;  he  hoped  to  run  and  win 
while  Sawyer  lived,  and  he  was  holding  meetings,  too.  But  his 
meetings  were  held  all  over  the  state,  with  voters  and  delegates, 
and  he  was  making  headway.  Lest  he  might  fall  short,  how- 
ever. La  Follette  made  a  political  bargain.  He  confesses  it, 
and  calls  it  a  political  sin,  but  he  thinks  the  retribution  which 
came  swift  and  hard  was  expiation.  He  made  a  deal  with  Emil 
Baensch,  by  which  both  should  canvass  the  state  for  delegates, 
with  the  understanding  that  whichever  of  the  two  should  de- 
velop the  greatest  strength  was  to  have  both  delegations.  La 
Follette  says  he  came  into  convention  with  enough  delegates  of 
his  own  to  nominate  him,  and  Baensch  had  75  or  so  besides. 
The  convention  adjourned  over  night  without  nominating  and 
the  next  morning  La  Follette  was  beaten.  '  He  had  lost  some 
of  his  own  delegates,  and  Baensch 's  went  to  Scofield.] 
LLa  Follette 's  lost  delegates  were  bought.  How  the  Baensch 
delegates  were  secured_,'  I  don't  know,  but  Baensch  was  not  a 
man  to  sell  for  money.  It  was  reported  to  La  Follette  during 
the  night  that  Baensch  was  going  over,  and  La  Follette  wrestled 


Lincoln  Steffens  87 

with  and  thought  he  had  won  him  back,  till  the  morning  bal- 
loting showed.  As  for  the  rest,  the  facts  are  ample  to 
make  plain  the  methods  of  the  old  ring.  Sawyer  was  there; 
and  there  was  a  "barrel."  I  saw  men  who  saw  money  on  a 
table  in  the  room  in  the  Pfister  Hotel,  where  delegates  went  in 
and  out,  and  newspaper  men  present  at  the  time  told  me  the 
story  in  great  detail.  But  there  is  better  evidence  than  this. 
Men  to  whom  bribes  were  offered  reported  to  their  leader  that 
night.  The  first  warning  came  from  Captain  John  T.  Rice,  of 
Racine,  who  (as  Governor  La  Follette  recalls)  said:  "I  have 
been  with  the  old  crowd  all  my  life  and  I  thought  I  knew  the 
worst,  but  they  have  no  right  to  ask  me  to  do  what  they  did 
tonight.  I  won't  tell  you  who,  but  the  head  of  the  whole  busi- 
ness asked  me  to  name  my  price  for  turning  over  the  Union 
Grove  delegation  from  you  to  Scofield."  There  are  many  such 
personal  statements,  some  of  them  giving  prices— cash,  and  fed- 
eral and  state  offices— and  some  giving  the  names  of  the  bribery 
agents.  The  Halfbreed  leaders  tried  to  catch  the  bribers  with 
witnesses,  but  failed,  and  at  midnight  Charles  F.  Pfister,  a  Mil- 
waukee Stalwart  leader,  called  on  La  Follette,  who  repeated  to 
me  what  he  said: 

''La  Follette,  we've  got  you  beaten.  We've  got  your  dele- 
gates. It  won't  do  you  any  good  to  squeal,  and  if  you'll  be- 
have yourself  we'll  take  care  of  you." 

So  La  Follette  had  to  go  on  with  his  fight.  He  would  not 
"behave."  iHis  followers  wanted  him  to  lead  an  independent 
movement  for  governor;  he  wouldn't  do  that,  but  he  made  up 
his  mind  to  lead  a  movement  for  reform  within  the  party,  and 
his  experience  with  corrupted  delegates  set  him  to  thinking 
about  methods  of  nomination.  The  System  loomed  large  with 
the  growth  of  corporate  wealth,  the  power  of  huge  consolida- 
tions over  the  individual  and  the  unscrupulous  use  of  both 
money  and  powerV'  Democracy  was  passing,  and  yet  the  peo- 
ple were  sound.  Their  delegates  at  home  were  representatives, 
but  shipped  on  passes  to  Milwaukee,  treated,  "entertained" 
and  bribed,  they  ceased  to  represent.  The  most  important  re- 
form was  to  get  the  nomination  back  among  the  voters  them- 
selves. Thus  La  Follette,  out  of  his  own  experience,  took  up 
this  issue— direct  primary  nominations  by  the  Australian 
ballot.  J 


88  The  Story  of  Governor  La  Follette 

STALWARTS  TAKE  LA  FOLLETTE 'S  PLATFORM. 

During  the  next  two  years  La  Follette  made  a  propaganda 
with  this  issue  and  railroad  taxation,  the  taxation  of  other  cor- 
porations— express  and  sleeping  car  companies  which  paid 
nothing— and  the  evils  of  a  corrupt  machine  that  stood  for  cor- 
rupting capital.  He  sent  out  circulars  and  literature,  some  of 
it  the  careful  writings  of  scientific  authors,  but,  most  effective 
of  all,  were  the  speeches  he  made  at  the  county  fairs.  When 
the  time  for  the  next  republican  state  convention  came  around 
in  1898,  he  held  a  conference  with  some  thirty  of  his  leaders 
in  Milwaukee,  and  he  urged  a  campaign  for  their  platform 
alone,  with  no  candidate.  The  others  insisted  that  La  Follette 
run,  and  they  were  right  in  principle.  As  the  event  proved, 
the  Stalwarts  were  not  afraid  of  a  platform,  if  they  could  be 
in  office  to  make  and  carry  out  the  laws.  La  Follette  ran  for 
the  nomination  and  was  beaten— by  the  same  methods  that 
were  employed  against  him  in  '96;  cost  (insider's  estimate), 
$8,000.     Scofield  was  renominated. 

But  the  La  FoUette-Hall  platform  was   adopted— anti-pass, 
,  corporation  taxation,  primary  election  reform,  and  all.  "They" 
^  say  now  in  Wisconsin  that  La  Follette  is  too  practical ;  that  he 
,  has   adopted  machine  methods,   etc.     Ibiriag-  1896,    1897   and 
- 1898  they  were  saying  he  was  an  impracticable  reformer,  and 
I  yet  here  they  were  adopting  his  impracticable  theories.     And 
[they  enacted  some  of  these  reforms.     The  agitation  (for  La  Fol- 
llette  is  indeed  an  "agitator")  made  necessary  some  compliance 
with  public  demand  and   platform  promises,  so  Hall  got  his 
anti-pass  law  at  last;  a  commission  to  investigate  taxation  was 
appointed,  and  there  was  some  other  good  legislation.     Yet,  as 
Mr.  Hall  says,  "In  effect,  that  platform  was  repudiated."     The 
railway   commission   reported   that   the    larger   companies,   the 
Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul  and  the  Northwestern,  respec- 
tively, did  not  pay  their  proportionate  share  of  the  taxes,  and 
a  bill  was  introduced  by  Hall  to  raise  the  assessment.     It  passed 
the  house,  but  the  senate  had  and  has  a  "combine"  like  the 
senates  of  Missouri  and  Illinois,  and  the  combine  beat  the  bill. 
The  failures  of  the  legislature  left  all  questions  open  and  La 
Follette   and  his   followers    continued    their   agitation.     Mean- 


Lincoln  Steffens  \  89 

while  Senator  Sawyer  died,  and  when  the  next  governmental 
election  (1900)  approached,  all  hope  of  beating  La  Follette  was 
gone.  The  Stalwarts  began  to  come  to  him  with  offers  of  sup- 
port. One  of  the  first  to  surrender  was  J.  W.  Babcock,  con- 
gresman  and  national  politician.  Others  followed,  but  not  John 
C.  Spooner,  Payne  and  Pfister,  not  yet.  They  brought  out 
for  the  nomination  John  M.  WhiJ:ehead,  a  state  senator  with  a 
clean  reputation  and  a  good  record.  But  in  May  (1900)  La 
Fojlette  announced  his  candidacy  on  a  ringing  platform,  and 
he  went  campaigning  down  into  the  strongest  Stalwart  counties. 
He  carried  enough  of  them  to  take  the  heart  out  of  the  old  ring. 
All  other  candidates  withdrew  and  Senator  Spooner,  who  is  a 
timid  man,  wrote  a  letter  which,  in  view  of  his  subsequent 
stand  for  re-election,  is  a  remarkable  document;  it  declared 
that  he  was  unalterably  determined  not  to  run  again  for  the 
senate.  La  Follette  was  nominated  unanimously,  and  his  own 
platform  was  adopted.  The  victory  was  complete.  Though 
the  implacable  Stalwarts  supported  the  democratic  candidate, 
La  Follette  was  elected  by  102,000  plurality. 

VICTORY,   THE  BEGINNING  OF   WAR. 

Victory  for  reform  is  often  defeat,  and  this  triumph  of  La 
Follette,  apparently  so  complete,  was  but  the  beginning  of  the 
greatest  fight  of  all  in  Wisconsin,  the  fight  that  is  being  waged 
out  there  now.  Governor  La  Follette  was  inaugurated  Janu- 
ary 7,  1901.  The  legislature  was  overwhelmingly  republican 
and  apparently  there  was  perfect  harmony  in  the  party.  The 
governor  believed  there  was.  The  Stalwart-Halfbreed  lines 
were  not  sharply  drawn.  The  Halfbreeds  counted  a  majority, 
especially  in  the  house,  and  A.  E.  Hall  was  the  "logical"  can- 
didate for  speaker.  It  was  understood  that  he  coveted  the 
honor,  but  he  proposed  and  it  was  decided  that,  in  the  interest 
of  peace  and  fair  play,  a  Stalwart  should  take  the  chair.  The 
governor  says  that  the  first  sign  he  had  of  trouble  was  in  the 
newspapers,  which,  the  day  after  the  organization  of  the  legis- 
lature, reported  that  the  Stalwarts  controlled  and  that  there 
would  be  no  primary  election  or  tax  legislation.  The  governor, 
undaunted,  sent  in  a  firm  message  calling  for  the  performance 


90  The  Story  of  Governor  La  FoUetU 

of  all  campaign  promises,  and  bills  to  carry  out  campaign 
pledges  were  introduced  under  the  direction  of  the  La  Follette 
leaders,  Hall  and  Judge  E.  Ray  Stevens,  the  author  of  the 
primary  election  bill.  These  developed  the  opposition.  There 
were  two  (alternative)  railway  tax  bills;  others  to  tax  corpora- 
tions ;  and,  later,  a  primary  election  bill— nothing  that  was  not 
promised  by  a  harmonious  party,  yet  the  outcry  was  startling 
and  the  fight  that  followed  was  furious.     Why? 

LA   FOLLETTE  AND   THE   RAILROADS. 

I  have  seen  enough  of  the  System  to  believe  that  that  is  the 
way  it  works.  I  believe  just  such  opposition,  with  just  such 
cries  of  ''boss,"  ''dictator,"  etc.,  will  arise  against  Folk  when 
he  is  governor,  and  possibly  against  Deneen.  And  I  believe 
they  will  find  their  legislatures  organized  and  corrupted 
against  them.  But  in  the  case  of  La  Follette  there  was  a  "mis- 
understanding." In  the  year  (1900)  when  everything  was  La 
Follette,  Congressman  Babcock,  Postmaster-General  Payne  and 
others  sought  to  bring  together  the  great  ruling  special 
interests  and  the  ine^atable  governor.  Governor  La  Follette 
said,  like  President  Roosevelt,  that  he  would  represent  the  cor- 
porations of  his  state,  just  as  he  would  represent  all  other  in- 
terests and  persons ;  but  no  more.  He  would  be  ' '  fair. ' '  Well, 
that  was  ' '  all  we  want, ' '  they  said,  and  the  way  seemed  smooth. 
It  was  like  the  incident  in  St.  Louis  where  Folk  told  the  bood- 
lers  he  would  "do  his  duty,"  and  the  boodlers  answered,  "Of 
course,  old  man." 

But  some  railroad  men  say  La  Follette  promised  in  writing 
to  consult  with  them  before  bringing  in  railroad  bills;  there 
was  a  certain  famous  letter  written  in  the  spring  of  1900  to 
Thomas  H.  Gill,  an  old  friend  of  the  governor,  who  is  counsel 
to  the  Wisconsin  Central  Railroad;  this  letter  put  the  gov- 
ernor on  record.  EveryT\^here  I  went  I  heard  of  this  docu- 
ment, and  though  the  noise  of  it  had  resounded  through  the 
state  for  four  years,  it  had  never  been  produced.     Here  it  is: 

Madison,  Wis.,  May  12th,  1900. 
Dear  Tom  : 

You  have  been  my  personal  and  political  friend  for  twenty 
years.     Should  I  become   a  candidate  for  the  nomination   for 


Lincoln  Steffens  91 

governor,  I  want  your  continued  support,  if  you  can  consist- 
ently accord  it  to  me.  But  you  are  the  attorney  for  the  Wis- 
consin Central  R.  R.  Co.,  and  I  am  not  willing  that  you  should 
be  placed  in  any  position  where  you  could  be  subjected  to  any 
criticism  or  embarrassment  with  your  employers  on  my  ac- 
count. For  this  reason,  I  desire  to  state  to  you  in  so  far  as 
I  am  able  my  position  in  relation  to  the  question  of  railway 
taxation,  which  has  now  become  one  of  public  interest,  and  is 
likely  to  so  continue  until  rightly  settled.  This  I  can  do  in  a 
very  few  words. 

Railroad  corporations  should  pay  neither  more  nor  less  than 
a  justly  proportionate  share  of  taxes  with  the  other  taxable 
property  of  the  state.  If  I  were  in  a  position  to  pass  officially 
upon  a  bill  to  change  existing  law,  it  would  be  my  first  care 
to  know  whether  the  rate  therein  proposed  was  just  in  propor- 
tion to  the  property  of  other  corporations  and  individuals  as 
then  taxed,  or  as  therein  proposed  to  be  taxed.  The  deter- 
mination of  that  question  would  be  controlling.  If  such  rate 
was  less  than  the  justly  proportionate  share  which  should  be 
borne  by  the  railroads,  then  I  should  favor  increasing  it  to 
make  it  justly  proportionate.  If  the  proposed  rate  was  more 
than  the  justly  proportionate  share,  in  comparison  with  the 
property  of  other  corporations,  and  of  individuals  taxed  under 
the  law,  then  I  should  favor  decreasing  to  make  it  justly  pro- 
portionate. 

In  other  words,  I  would  favor  equal  and  exact  justice  to 
each  individual  and  to  every  interest,  yielding  neither  to  clamor 
on  the  one  hand,  nor  being  swerved  from  the  straight  course 
by  any  interest  upon  the  other.  This  position,  I  am  sure,  is 
the  only  one  which  could  commend  itself  to  you,  and  cannot 
be  criticised   by   any   legitimate  business  honestly  managed. 

Sincerely  yours, 

The  Mr.  Gill  to  whom  this  letter  was  addressed  is  one  of  the 
most  enlightened  and  fair-minded  corporation  lawyers  that  I 
ever  met,  even  in  the  west,  where  corporation  men  also  are  en- 
lightened. He  convinced  me  that  he  and  the  other  railroad 
men  really  did  expect  more  consideration  than  the  governor 
gave  them,  and  so  there  may  have  been  a  genuine  misunder- 
standing. But  after  what  I  have  seen  in  Chicago,  St.  Louis 
and  Pittsburg,  and  in  Missouri  and  Illinois  and  the  United 
States,  I  am  almost  persuaded  that  no  honest  official  in  power 
can  meet  the  expectations  of  great  corporations;  they  have 
been  spoiled,  like  bad  American  children,  and  are  ever  ready  to 
resort  to  corruption  and  force.     That  was  their  recourse  now. 


92  The  Story  of  Governor  La  Follette 

Governor  La  Follette  says  he  learned  afterward  that  during 
the  campaign  the  old,  corrupt  ring  went  about  in  the  legis- 
lative districts,  picking  and  ''fixing"  legislators,  and  that  the 
plan  was  to  discredit  him  with  defeat  by  organizing  the  legis- 
lature against  him.  However  this  may  be,  it  is  certain  that 
when  his  bills  were  under  way,  there  was  a  rush  to  the  lobby 
at  Madison.  The  regular  lobbyists  were  reinforced  with  spe- 
cial agents;  local  Stalwart  leaders  were  sent  for  and  federal 
office  holders;  United  States  senators  hurried  home,  and  con- 
gressmen and  boodle,  federal  patronage,  force  and  vice  were 
employed  to  defeat  bills  promised  in  the  platform.  Here  is  a 
statement  by  Irvine  L.  Lenroot,  now  the  speaker  of  the  assem- 
bly.    He  says: 

OFFICIAL    DESCRIPTION    OF    THE    LOBBY. 

"From  the  first  day  of  the  session  the  lobbyists  were  on  the 
ground  in  force,  offering  courtesies  and  entertainments  of 
various  kinds  to  the  members.  Bribery  is  a  hard  word,  a 
charge,  which  never  should  be  made  unless  it  can  be  substan- 
tiated. The  writer  has  no  personal  knowledge  of  money  being 
actually  offered  or  received  for  votes  against  the  bill.  It  was, 
however,  generally  understood  in  the  assembly  that  any  mem- 
ber favoring  the  bill  could  better  his  financial  condition  if  he 
was  willing  to  vote  against  it.  Members  were  approached  by 
representatives  of  the  companies  and  offered  lucrative  posi- 
tions. This  may  not  have  been  done  with  any  idea  of  influ- 
encing votes.  The  reader  will  draw  his  own  conclusions.  It 
was  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  that  railroad  mileage  could 
be  procured  if  a  member  was  'right.'  Railroad  lands  could  be 
purchased  very  cheaply  by  members  of  the  legislature.  It  was 
said  if  a  member  got  into  a  poker  game  with  a  lobbyist,  the 
member  was  sure  to  win.  Members  opposed  to  Governor  La 
Follette  were  urged  to  vote  against  the  bill,  because  he  wanted 
it  to  pass.  A  prominent  member  stated  that  he  did  not  dare  to 
vote  for  the  bill,  because  he  was  at  the  mercy  of  the  railroad 
companies,  and  he  was  afraid  they  would  ruin  his  business  by 
advancing  his  rates,  if  he  voted  for  it." 

I  went  to  Superior  and  saw  Mr.  Lenroot,  and  he  told  me 


Lincoln  Steffens  93 

that  one  of  the  ''members  approached  by  representatives  of 
the  companies  and  offered  positions,"  was  himself.  He  gave 
his  bribery  stories  in  detail,  and  enabled  me  to  run  down  and 
verify  others;  but  the  sentence  that  interested  me  most  in  his 
statement  was  the  last.  The  member  who  did  not  dare  vote 
for  the  railway  tax  bill,  lest  the  railways  raise  the  freight  on 
his  goods  and  ruin  his  business,  confessed  to  Governor  La  Fol- 
lette  and  others.  Another  member  stated  that  in  return  for  his 
treason  to  his  constituents,  a  railroad  quoted  him  a  rate  that 
would  give  him  an  advantage  over  his  competitors. 

Well,  these  methods  succeeded.  The  policy  of  the  adminis- 
tration was  not  carried  out.  Some  good  bills  passed,  but  the 
session  was  a  failure.  Not  content  with  this  triumph,  how- 
ever, the  System  went  to  work  to  beat  La  Follette,  and  to  ac- 
complish this  end.  La  Follette 's  methods  were  adopted,  or, 
rather,  adapted.  A  systematic  appeal  was  to  be  made  to  public 
opinion.  A  meeting  of  the  leading  Stalwarts  was  held  in  the 
eleventh  story  of  an  office  building  in  Milwaukee,  and  a  perma- 
nent republican  league  of  the  state  of  Wisconsin  was  organized. 
This  became  known  as  the  ''Eleventh  Story  League."  A 
manifesto  was  put  out  "viewing  with  alarm  the  encroach- 
ments of  the  executive  upon  the  legislative  branch  of  the  gov- 
ernment," etc.,  etc.  (The  encroachments  of  boodle  business 
upon  all  branches  of  the  government  is  all  right.)  An  army 
of  canvassers  was  dispatched  over  the  state  to  interview  per- 
sonally every  voter  in  the  state  and  leave  with  him  books  and 
pamphlets.  Now  this  was  democratic  and  fair,  but  that 
league  did  one  thing  which  is  enough  alone  to  condemn  the 
whole  movement.  It  corrupted  part  of  the  country  press. 
This  is  not  hearsay.  The  charge  was  made  at  the  time  these 
papers  swung  suddenly  around,  and  the  league  said  it  did  not 
bribe  the  editors;  it  "paid  for  space  for  league  editorial  mat- 
ter, and  for  copies  of  the  paper  to  be  circulated."  This  is 
bribery,  as  any  newspaper  man  knows.  But  there  was  also 
what  even  the  league  business  man  would  call  bribery;  news- 
paper men  all  over  the  state  told  me  about  direct  purchase— 
and  cheap,  too.  It  is  sickening,  but,  for  final  evidence,  I  saw 
affidavits,  published  in  Wisconsin,  by  newspaper  men,  who  were 
approached  with  offers  which  they  refused,  and  by  others  who 


94  The  Story  of  Governor  La  Follette 

sold  out,  then  threw  up  their  contracts  and  returned  the  bribes, 
for  shame  or  other  reasons. 

These  "democratic"  methods  failed.  When  the  time  arrived 
for  the  next  republican  state  convention,  the  Stalwarts  found 
that  the  people  had  sent  up  delegates  instructed  for  La  Follette, 
and  he  was  nominated  for  a  second  term.  What  could  the 
Stalwarts  do?  They  weren't  even  "regular"  now.  La  Fol- 
lette had  the  party,  they  had  only  the  federal  patronage  and 
the  Big  Business  System.  But  the  System  had  resources. 
Wherever  a  municipal  reform  movement  has  hewed  to  the 
line,  the  leaders  of  it,  like  Folk  and  the  Chicago  reformers,  have 
seen  the  forces  of  corruption  retire  from  one  party  to  the  other 
and  from  the  city  to  the  state.  This  Wisconsin  movement  for 
state  reform  now  had  a  similar  experience.  The  Wisconsin 
System,  driven  out  of  the  republican,  went  over  to  the  demo- 
cratic party;  that  had  not  been  reformed;  beaten  out  of  power 
in  the  state,  it  retreated  to  the  towns;  they  had  not  been  re- 
formed. 

THE  SYSTEM   IN  THE  TOWNS. 

'  The  System  in  many  of  the  Wisconsin  municipalities  was 
intact.  There  had  been  no  serious  municipal  reform  move- 
ments anywhere,  and  the  citizens  of  Milwaukee,  Oshkosh,  Green 
Bay,  etc.,  were  prettty  well  satisfied,  and  they  are  still,  ap- 
parently. "We're  nothing  like  Minneapolis,  St.  Louis,  and  the 
rest,"  they  told  me  with  American  complacency.  Green  Bay 
was  exactly  like  Minneapolis;  we  know  it  because  the  wretched 
little  place  has  been  exposed  since.  And  Marinette  and  Osh- 
kosh, unexposed,  are  said  by  insiders  to  be  "just  like  Green 
Bay."     As  for  Milwaukee,  that  is  St.  Louis  over  again. 

District  Attorney  Bennett  has  had  grand  juries  at  work 
in  Milwaukee  since  1901,  and  he  has  some  42  persons  indicted— 
12  aldermen,  10  supervisors,  9  other  officials,  1  state  senator, 
and  10  citizens;  four  convictions  and  three  pleas  of  guilty. 
The  grafting  so  far  exposed  is  petty,  but  the  evidence  in  hand 
indicates  a  highly  perfected  boodle  system.  The  republicans 
had  the  county,  the  democrats  the  city,  and  both  the  council 
and  the  board  of  supervisors  had  combines  which  grafted  on 
contracts,    public    institutions,    franchises,    and    other   business 


Lincoln  Steffens  95 

privileges.  The  corrupt  connection  of  business  and  politics 
was  shown;  the  informants  were  merchants  and  contractors, 
mostly  small  men,  who  confessed  to  bribery.  The  biggest  caught 
so  far  is  Colonel  Pabst,  the  brewer,  who  paid  a  check  for  $1,500 
for  leave  to  break  a  building  law.  But  all  signs  point  higher 
than  beer,  to  more  "legitimate"  political  business.  As  in  Chi- 
cago, a  bank  is  the  center  of  this  graft,  and  public  utility  com- 
panies are  back  of  it.  The  politicians  in  the  boards  of  man- 
agement, now  or  formerly,  show  that.  It  is  a  bi-partizan  sys- 
tem all  through.  Henry  C.  Payne,  while  chairman  of  the  re- 
publican state  central  committee,  and  E.  C.  Wall  (the  man 
the  "Wisconsin  democracy  offered  the  national  democratic  con- 
vention for  president  of  the  United  States),  while  chairman  of 
the  democratic  state  central  committee,  engineered  a  consolida- 
tion of  Milwaukee  street  railway  and  electric  lighting  compa- 
panies,  and,  when  the  job  was  done,  Payne  became  manager  of 
the  street  railway.  Wall  of  the  light  comapny.  But  this  was 
"business."  There  was  no  scandal  about  it. 
[  The  great  scandal  of  Milwaukee  was  the  extension  of  street 
railway  franchises,  and  the  men  who  put  that  through  were 
Charles  F.  Pfister,  the  Stalwart  republican  boss,  and  David  S. 
Rose,  the  Stalwart  democratic  mayor.  Money  was  paid:  the 
extension  was  boodled  through.  The  Milwaukee  Sentinel  re- 
printed a  paragraph  saying  Pfister,  among  others,  did  the  brib- 
ing, and  thus  it  happened  that  the  Stalwarts  got  that  paper. 
Pfister  sued  for  libel,  but  when  the  editors  (now  on  the  Milwau- 
kee Free  Press)  made  answer  that  their  defense  would  be  proof 
of  the  charge,  the  millionaire  traction  man  bought  the  paper 
and  its  evidence  too.  It  is  no  more  than  fair  to  add— as  Mil- 
waukee newspaper  men  always  do  (with  delight) —that  the 
paper  had  very  little  evidence,  not  nearly  so  much  as  Pfister 
seemed  to  think  it  had.  As  for  Mayor  Eose,  his  friends  de- 
clare that  he  has  told  them,  personally  and  convincingly,  that 
he  got  not  one  cent  for  his  service.  But  that  is  not  the  point. 
Mayor  Rose  fought  to  secure  for  special  interests  a  concession 
which  sacrificed  the  common  interests  of  the  city.  I  am  aware 
that  he  defends  the  terms  of  the  grants  as  fair,  and  they  would 
seem  so  in  the  east,  but  the  west  is  intelligent  on  special  privi- 
leges, and  Mayor  Rose  lost  to  Milwaukee  the  chance  Chicago 
seized  to  settle  the  public  utility  problem.    Moreover,  Rose  knew 


96  The  Story  of  Governor  La  Follette 

that  his  council  was  corrupt  before  it  was  proven  so;  he  told 
two  business  men  that  they  couldn't  get  a  privilege  they  sought 
honestly  from  him,  without  bribing  aldermen.  Yet  he  ridi- 
culed as  ''hot  air"  an  investigation  which  nevertheless  pro- 
duced evidence  enough  to  defeat  at  the  polls,  in  a  self-respect- 
ing city,  the  head  of  an  administration  so  besmirched.  Mil- 
waukee re-elected  Rose;  good  citizens  say  they  gave  man  the 
benefit  of  the  doubt— the  man,  not  the  city. 

But  this  is  not  the  only  explanation.  The  System  was  on 
trial  with  Mayor  Rose  in  that  election,  and  the  System  saved 
its  own.  The  republicans,  with  the  Rose  administration  ex- 
posed, had  a  chance  to  win,  and  they  nominated  a  good  man, 
Mr.  Guy  D.  Goff.  Pfister,  the  Stalwart  republican  boss,  seemed 
to  support  Goff;  certainly  the  young  candidate  had  no  suspi- 
cion to  the  contrary.  He  has  now,  however.  When  the  re- 
turns came  in  showing  that  he  was  beaten,  Mr.  Goff  hunted  up 
Mr.  Pfister,  and  he  found  him.  Mr.  Goff,  the  republican  can- 
didate for  mayor,  found  Charles  F.  Pfister,  the  Stalwart  repub- 
lican boss,  rejoicing  over  the  drinks  with  the  elected  democratic 
mayor,  David  S.  Rose. 

BOTH    RINGS    AGAINST    LA    FOLLETTE. 

I  guess  Mr.  Goff  knows  that  a  bi-partizan  System  rules  Mil- 
waukee, and,  by  the  same  token.  Governor  La  Follette  knows 
there  is  a  bi-partizan  System  in  Wisconsin.  For  when  Gov- 
ernor La  Follette  beat  the  Stalwarts  in  the  republican  state 
convention  of  1902,  those  same  Stalwarts  combined  with  the 
democrats.  Democrats  told  me  that  the  republican  Stalwarts 
dictated  the  ''democratic"  anti-La  Follette  platform  and  that 
Pfister,  the  "republican"  boss,  named  the  "safe  man"  chosen 
for  the  "democratic"  candidate  for  governor  to  run  against 
La  Follette— said  David  S.  Rose. 

"They"  say  in  Wisconsin  that  La  Follette  is  a  democrat; 
that  "he  appeals  to  democratic  voters."  He  does.  He  admits 
it,  but  he  adds  that  it  is  indeed  to  the  democratic  voters  that 
he  appeals— not  to  the  democratic  machine.  And  he  gets  demo- 
cratic votes.  "They"  complain  that  he  has  split  the  republi- 
can party;  he  has,  and  he  has  split  the  democratic  party  too. 
When  "they"   united  the  two  party  rings  of  the  bi-partizan 


Lincoln  Steffens  97 

System  against  La  Follette  in  1902,  lie  went  out  after  the 
voters  of  both  parties,  and  those  voters  combined;  they  beat 
Rose  ,the  two  rings,  and  the  System.  The  people  of  Wisconsin 
re-elected  La  Follette,  the  "unsafe,"  and  that  is  why  the 
trouble  is  so  great  in  Wisconsin.     The  System  there  is  down. 

The  defeat  of  Rose  did  not  beat  them.  The  Stalwarts  still 
had  the  senate,  and  they  manned  the  l^bby  to  beat  the  railroad 
tax  and  the  primary  election  bills.  But  Governor  La  Follette 
outplayed  them  at  the  great  game.  He  long  had  been  study- 
ing the  scheme  for  a  state  commission  to  regulate  railway 
freight  rates.  It  was  logical.  If  their  taxes  were  increased 
the  roads  could  take  the  difference  out  of  the  people  by  rais- 
ing freight  rates.  Other  states  had  such  commissions,  and  in 
some  of  them,  notably  Iowa  and  Illinois,  the  rates  were  lower 
than  in  Wisconsin.  Moreover,  we  all  know  that  railroads  give 
secret  rebates  and  otherwise  discriminate  in  favor  of  individu- 
als and  localities. 

When  then,  the  battle  lines  were  drawn  on  the  old  bills  in  the 
legislature  of  1903,  the  governor  threw  into  the  fight  a  brist- 
ling message  calling  for  a  commission  to  regulate  railway  rates. 
The  effect  was  startling.  '^Populism,"  "Socialism,"  "they" 
cried,  and  they  turned  to  rend  this  new  bill.  They  let  the  tax 
bill  go  through  to  fight  this  fresh  menace  to  "business."  They 
held  out  against  the  primary  election  bill  also,  for,  if  that 
passed  they  feared  the  people  might  keep  La  Follette  in  power 
forever.  Even  that,  however,  they  let  pass  finally,  with  an 
amendment  for  a  referendum.  Concentrating  upon  the  rate 
commission  bill,  Big  Business  organized  business  men's  mass 
meetings  throughout  the  state,  and  with  the  help  of  favored  or 
timid  shippers,  sent  committees  to  Madison  to  protest  to  the 
legislature.  Thus  this  bill  was  beaten  by  Business  and,  with 
the  primary  election  referendum,  is  an  issue  in  this  year's 
campaign. 

*  As  I  have  tried  to  show,  however,  the  fundamental  issue  lies 
deeper.  The  people  of  Wisconsin  understand  this.  The  Stal- 
warts dread  the  test  at  the  polls.  But  what  other  appeal  was 
there?  They  knew  one.  When  the  republican  state  conven- 
tion met  this  year,  the  Stalwarts  bolted;  whatever  the  result 
might  have  been  of  a  fight  in  the  convention,  they  avoided  it 
and  held  a  separate  convention  in  another  hall,  hired  in  ad- 

5 


98  The  Story  of  Governor  La  Follette 

vance.  The  Halfbreeds  renominated  La  Follette ;  the  Stalwarts 
put  up  another  ticket.  To  the  Stalwart  convention  came  Post- 
master-General Payne,  United  States  Senators  Spooner  and 
Quarles,  Stalwart  .congressmen  and  federal  office  holders — the 
federal  System.  \  The  broken  state  System  was  appealing  to 
the  United  States  System,  and  the  republican  national  conven- 
tion at  Chicago  was  to  decide  the  case.  And  it  did  decide— for 
the  System.  I  attended  that  convention,  and  heard  what  was 
said  privately  and  honestly.  The  republicans  who  decided  for 
Payne-Spooner-Pfister-Babcock,  etc.,  said  ''La  Follette  isn't 
really  a  republican  anyhow." 

Isn't  he?  That  is  a  most  important  question.  True,  he  is 
very  democratic  essentially.  He  helped  to  draw  the  McKinley 
tariff  law  and  he  is  standing  now  on  the  national  republican 
platform;  his  democracy  consists  only  in  the  belief  that  the 
citizens  elected  to  represent  the  people  should  represent  the 
people,  not  the  corrupt  special  interests.  Both  parties  should 
be  democratic  in  that  sense.  But  they  aren't.  Too  often  we 
have  found  both  parties  representing  graft— big  business  graft. 
The  people,  especially  in  the  west,  are  waking  to  a  realization 
of  this  state  of  things  and  (taking  a  hint  from  the  Big  Graft- 
ers) they  are  following  leaders  who  see  that  the  way  to  restore 
government  representative  of  the  common  interests  of  the  city 
or  state,  is  to  restore  to  public  opinion  the  control  of  the  domi- 
nant party.  The  democrats  of  Missouri  have  made  their  party 
democratic;  the  republicans  of  Illinois  have  made  their  party 
democratic.  The  next  to  answer  should  be  the  people  of  Wis- 
consin, The  Stalwarts  hope  the  courts  will  decide.  They  hope 
their  courts  will  uphold  the  decision  of  the  national  republican 
party,  that  they,  who  represent  all  that  is  big  and  bad  in  busi- 
ness and  politics,  are  the  regular  ''republicans."-  This  isn't 
•"  right.  The  people  of  Wisconsin  are  not  radicals ;  they  are  law- 
abiding,  conservative,  and  fair.  They  will  lay  great  store  by 
what  their  courts  shall  rule,  but  this  is  a  question  that  should 
be  left  wholly  to  the  people  themselves.  And  they  are  to  be 
trusted,  for,  no  matter  how  men  may  differ  about  Governor  La 
Follette  otherwise,  his  long,  hard  fight  has  developed  citizen- 
ship in  Wisconsin— honest,  reasonable,  intelligent  citizenship, 
knd  that  is  better  than  "business";  that  is  what  business  and 
government  are  for — men. 


WISCONSIN  PRIMARY  ELECTION  LAW 


AN   ACT    to  provide   for   party    nominations   by   direct    vote. 
'^"£''l^t°'a^loU^Jl.  "'  ^'-<=<"^-.  represented  in  Senate  and  Assembly. 

S'S  ™-  -  ^'^»e'M^o"n'^?^e^nt  VS.V!f%£;^X^%S^ 

I'     Sf   ZZ^   "P^™f^yv    tl^e  primary  election   provided   for  bv   this  act- 

from  a'^pHml^T^l'SnT'"    ^    ^^"'"'^'    "^    ""^    '"^'="™'    ^^    distinguished 
vembe?'""*    """'"^    "November   election,"    the    general    election    held    in    No- 

qu4me?t,eX?s"v^o7e^'"af  oneM,'.i;jfpfal^^"*^^  "^  '--  ""»'"  which  all 
This  statute   shall   be  liberally  construed,   so   that   the   real  win    r.t   th. 
an°D?ovi,T/,"n°f't''vf„f ''^^*  "^5'  ^"^   informality   or^faitoe  to  comply 'wUh 
KScTng°'o/^1,e^Tii?ar?T"LrTi,ytS-thi'^%¥u7,"s^h1reT"^^^^ 
e,eftfv"e^'^fe'c'ls   SZ  ."e^Tjlf.el?^''''''"    '      «--"-    a'.'J^?a''n'didates    for 

1.     By  a  primary  held   in  accordance   with   this  act.   or 
utes.  noniination  papers,   sigmed   and  filed  as  provided  by  existing  stat- 

nnr^"in=,^oHH^  Tif '^''^^^^^    ^°^    *^^    ^^^^    of    United    States    senator    shall    be 
?ors?ate   offices      '"^''''^'  P"°^^^^*^  ^^^^^^  fo^  the  nomination  of  candidates 

offi Je^'of^ sta?e^ snnJrin^^.^H^.  ^?   ^^^""'^^  elections  to  fill   vacancies  nor  to  the 

o^?.^io    +     f        supenntendent,    to    country   and    district    superintendents    of 

schools,   to  town,   village,   and  school  district   officers   nor  to  judicial  ^ffice?s 

l^i*^''fr.ir^^''v!,J"'"^^!,^"lJ"^**^^«   °f  the   peace   in   cities.^  ^^""^ 

Primar  es.    When    and    Where    Held.— Section    3.     1.  The    Sentember    nri- 

^rst'Tuptd^v^f^^c;^  f'    i^^   \%T^'^'    P°"*"^   P^^^^s   i^^aSh  pr^cinS   on'ihe 
«on  of  fn  P^PHdM^t^^T^t""'   1906.    and  biennially  thereafter  for  the  nomina- 

2      Ar^v    r.,.1^cv^^  ^.v.*''  ^.l  ^'""^^^  ^°^^  ^t  the  next  November  election, 
weeks   b?fo?pThP^i^^tf.''.  V"^""    l^\  September   primary    shall    be    held    two 
weeKs    Detore  the   election  for  which  such   primary  is  held. 

Notice  of  Primaries,  How  Given.— Section  4.  1.  At  least  sixtv  davs  bp- 
shall 'nrl.«S%?d  holding  such  September  primary,  the  ?ecre\a?y 'iTst^fe 
shall  prepare   and   transmit   to   each  county,   town,   city  and   village  clerk,    a 

^nr^^Ll^^^^'l^'^'^J^^^'^^^'''^    *he    offices    for    which    candidates    are    to    be 
nominated,   at  such   primary. 

i-c^J'^y^^^u  ^^^^}P^   of   such  notice,   such   county   clerk,   shall,   not  less    than 

ten   days    thereafter,   publish   so   much  thereof  as   may  be   applicable   to  his 

county,   once   m   each  week   for  six   consecutive  weeks   in  at  least  two,   and 

countv    ^^'^  "^^^'    newspapers    of    general    circulation    published    in    said   ' 

3.  Each  town,  village,  and  city  clerk  shall  within  ten  days  after  the  re- 
ceipt or  such  notice  cause  notice  of  such  primary  to  be  posted  in  three  pub- 
lic places  m  each  precinct  in  his  town,  city,  or  village;  such  notice  shall 
state  the  time  when,  and  place  where,  the  primary  will  be  held  in  each 
precmct  therein,  together  with  the  offices  for  which  candidates  are  to  be 
nominated. 

4.  In  case  of  city  elections,  the  city  clerk  shall  cause  one  publication 
ot  such  notice  to  be  given,  and  shall  also  post  such  notice  in  three  public 
places  in  each  election  precinct  therein,  such  publication  and  posting  to  be 
not  more  than  twenty  and  not  less  than  ten  days  before  such  primary 
election. 

5.  Each  county  clerk  shall,  on  the  first  Tuesday  of  June,  1906,  and  bi- 
ennially thereafter,  transmit  to  the  secretary  of  state  the  name  and  post- 
offlce  address   of  each  town,  city,   and  village  clerk  in  his  county. 


100  Wisconsin  Primary  Election  Law 

Nomination  Papers,   How    Prepared  and  Signed.— Section  5.     1.  The  name 

of  no  candidate  shall  be  printed  upon  an  official  ballot  used  at  any  primary 
unless  at  least  thirty  days  prior  to  such  primary  a  nomination  paper  shall 
have  been  filed  in  his  behalf  as  provided  in  this  act  in  substantially  the 
following-  form:  . 

I.   the  undersigned,   a  qualified  elector   of    (the precmct   of  the 

town   of .)    or   (the precinct  of   the ward 

of  the  city  of ),  county  of and  state  of  Wis- 
consin,  and  a   member  of  the party,   hereby  nominate 

,  who  resides  (at  No on street,   city  of 

)   or  (in  the   town  of ),   in  the  county  of 

,   as  a  candidate  for   the  office   of   (here  specify  the  office) 

to  be  voted  for  at  the  primary  to  be  held  on  the  first  Tues- 
day of   September,   19 ,  as   representing   the  principle  of  said   party,   and 

I  further  declare  that   I  intend  to  support  the  candidate   named  herein. 


Name  of  Signkk 

(In  Cities) 

Street 

No. 

Date  of  Signing 

2.  All  nomination  papers  shall  have  substantially  the  above  form  writ- 
ten or  printed  at  the  top  thereof.  No  signatures  shall  be  counted  unless 
they  be  upon  sheets  each  having  such  form  written  or  printed  at  the  top 
thereof. 

3.  Each  signer  of  a  nomination  paper  shall  sign  but  one  such  paper 
for  the  same  office,  and  shall  declare  that  he  intends  to  support  the  candi- 
date named  therein;  he  shall  add  his  residence,  with  street  and  number, 
if  any,    and   the  date   of    signing. 

4.  For  all  nominations,  except  state  officers,  all  signers  of  each  sepa- 
rate nomination  paper  shall  reside  in  the  same  precinct.  For  state  officers, 
all  signers  on  each  separate  nomination  paper  shall  reside  in  the  same 
county.  The  affidavit  of  a  qualified  elector  shall  be  appended  to  each  such 
nomination  paper,  stating  that  he  is  personally  acquainted  with  all  persons 
who  have  signed  the  same,  and  that  he  knows  them  to  be  electors  of  that 
precinct  or  county,  as  the  nomination  papers  shall  require;  that  he  knows 
that  they  signed  the  same  with  full  knowledge  of  the  contents  thereof  and 
that  their  respective  residences  are  stated  therein  and  that  each  signer 
signed  the  same  on  the  date  stated  opposite  his  name,  and  that  he,  the 
affiant,  intends  to  support  the  candidate  named  therein.  Such  affidavit  shall 
not  be  made  by  the  candidate,  but  each  candidate  shall  file  with  the  nomi- 
nation paper,  or  papers,  a  declaration  that  he  will  qualify  as  such  officer 
if  nominated  and   elected. 

5.  Such  nomination  papers    shall    be   signed. — 

(a)  If  for  a  state  office  by  at  least  one  per  cent,  of  the  voters  of  the 
party  of  such  candidate  in  at  least  each  of  six  counties  in  the  state,  and 
in  the  aggregate  riot  less  than  one  per  cent,  of  the  total  vote  of  his  party 
in  the  state.  ^       -  ^. 

(b)  If  for  a  representative  in  congress,  by  at  least  two  per  cent,  of  the 
voters  of  his  party  in  at  least  one-tenth  of  the  election  precincts  in  each  of 
at  least  one -half  of  the  counties  of  the  congressional  district,  and  in  the 
aggregate  not  less  than  two  per  cent,  of  the  total  vote  of  his  party  in  such 
district. 

(c)  If  for  an  office  representing  less  than  a  congressional  district  in 
area,  or  a  county  office,  by  at  least  three  per  cent,  of  the  party  vote  in  at 
least  one-sixth  of  the  election  precincts  of  such  district  and  in  the  aggre- 
gate not  less  than  three  per  cent,  of  the  total  vote  of  his  party  in  such 
district 

The  basis  of  percentage  in  each  case  shall  be  the  vote  of  the  party  for 
the  presidential  elector  receiving  the  largest  vote  at  the  last  preceding 
presidential  election.  ,  ,  .  ,       ^  ^,      ,     ^  -,.  ,      , 

But  any  political  organization  which  at  the  last  preceding  general  elec- 
tion was  represented  on  the  official  ballot  by  either  regular  party  candidates 
or  bv  individual  nominees  only,  may,  upon  complying  with  the  provisions 
of  this  act,  have  a  separate  primary  election  ticket  as  a  political  party,  if 
anv  of  its  candidates  or  individual  nominees  received  one  per  cent,  of  the 
total  vote  cast  at  the  last  preceding  general  election  in  the  state,  or  sub- 
division thereof,    in  which   the   candidate   seeks   the  nomination. 

Nomination  papers  may  also  be  filed  for  non-partisan  candidates;  such 
papers  shall  contain  at  least  two  per  cent,   of  the  total  vote  cast  at  the  last 


Wisconsin  Primary  Election  Law  101 

preceding  general  election  in  the  state,  or  subdivision  thereof,  in  which  the 
^fjr^  ^^  a  candidate,  such  signers  to  be  distributed  in  each  case  as  re- 
quired  by  the  provisions  of  this   act. 

.v,on°K'"^i'°,"  Papers,  Where  Filed— Section  6.  All  nomination  papers 
shall   be    filed  as  follows:  ^  ^ 

1.  For  state  officers,  United  States  senator,  representatives  in  congress 
and  those  members  of  senate  and  assembly  whose  districts  comprise  mora 
than  one  county,    m  the  office  of  the  secretary  of  state 

2  For  officers  to  be  voted  for  wholly  within  one  county,  in  the  office 
of  the  county  clerk   of  such  county.  '^•"">t; 

3.     For  city  officers,  in  the  office   of  the  city  clerk 

Publication  of  Names  of  Candidates.— Section  7.  At  least  twentv-five 
days  before  any  primary  preceding  a  general  election,  the  secretary  of 
state  shall  transmit  to  each  county  clerk  a  certified  list  containing  the 
name  and  post  pffice  address  of  each  person  for  whom  nomination  papers 
have  been  filed  m  his  office,  and  entitled  to  be  voted  for  at  such  primary 
together  with  a  designation  of  the  office  for  which  he  is  a  candidate  and 
the  party   or  principle   he    represents. 

Such  clerk  shall  forthwith  upon  receipt  thereof  publish  under  the  proner 
party  designation,  the  title  of  each  office,  the  names  and  addresses  of  all 
persons  for  whom  nomination  papers  have  been  filed,  giving  the  name  and 
address  of  each,  the  date  of  the  primary,  the  hours  during  which  the  polls 
will  be  opened,  and  that  the  primary  will  be  held  at  the  regular  polling 
places   in    each    precinct.  ^        ^ 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  county  clerk  to  publish  such  notice  for  three 
consecutive  weeks   prior    to  said   primary. 

Such  clerk  shall  also  forthwith  mail  copies  of  such  notice  to  each  town 
village,  and  city  clerk  of  his  county,  who  shall  immediately  post  copies  of 
the  same  in  at  least  three  public  places  in  each  precinct  in  his  town  vil- 
lage or  city,  designating  therein  the  location  of  the  polling  booth  in '  each 
election   precinct 

Publication  of  Notices.— Section  8.  Every  publication  required  in  this 
act  shall  be  made  in  at  least  two,  and  not  to  exceed  four  newspapers  of 
general  circulation  in  such  county  or  city,  one  of  such  newspapers  shall  rep- 
resent the  political  party  that  cast  the  largest  vote  in  such  county  or  city 
at  the  preceding  general  election,  and  one  of  such  newspapers  shall  repre- 
sent the  political  party  that  cast  the  next  largest  vote  in  such  county  or 
city  at  the  preceding  general  election. 

In  any  case  where  the  publication  of  a  notice  cannot  be  made,  as  here- 
inbefore required,  it  may  be  made  in  any  newspaper  having  a  general  cir- 
culation in  the  county  or  city  in  which  the  notice  is  required  to  be  pub- 
lished. 

Official  Ballots.— Section  9.  An  official  ballot  shall  be  printed  and  pro- 
vided for  use  at  each  voting  precinct  in  the  form  provided  herein  and  an- 
nexed hereto.  The  names  of  all  candidates  for  the  respective  offices,  for 
whom  the  nomination  papers  prescribed  shall  have  been  duly  filed,  shall 
be  printed  thereon. 

Preparation  and  Distribution  of  Ballots.— Section  10.  1.  At  least  twenty 
days  before  the  September  primary  each  county  clerk  shall  prepare  sample 
official  ballots,  placing  thereon,  alphabetically,  under  the  appropriate  title  of 
each  office  and  party  designation,  the  names  of  all  candidates  to  be  voted 
for  in  the  precinct  of  his  county,  for  whom  nomination  papers  have  been 
filed.  Such  sample  ballot  shall  be  printed  upon  tinted  or  colored  paper  and 
shall  contain  no   blank  endorsement   or  certificate. 

2.  Such  clerk  shall  forthwith  submit  the  ticket  of  each  party  to  the 
county  chairman  thereof  and  mail  a  copy  to  each  candidate  for  whom 
nomination  papers  have  been  filed  with  him  as  required  by  this  act.  to  his 
postoffice  address,  as  given  in  such  nomination  paper,  and  he  shall  post  a 
copy   of  each  sample  ballot   in  a   conspicuous  place  in  his   office. 

3.  On  the  tenth  day  before  such  primary  the  county  clerk  shall  cor- 
rect any  errors  or  omissions  in  the  ballot,  cause  the  same  to  be  printed  and 
distributed  as  required  by  law  in  the  case  of  ballots  for  the  general  elec- 
tion, except  that  the  number  of  ballots  to  be  furnished  to  each  precinct 
shall  be  twice  the  number  of  votes  cast  thereat  in  the  last  preceding  gen- 
eral election. 

Expenses  of  Primary,  How  Paid. — Section  11.  All  ballots,  blanks,  and 
other  supplies  to  be  used  at  any  primary,  and  all  expenses  necessarily  in- 
curred in  the  preparation  for  or  conducting  such  primary,  shall  be  paid  out 
of  the  treasury  of  the  city,  county,  or  state,  as  the  case  may  be,  in  the 
same  manner,  with  like  effect,  and  by  the  same  officers  as  in  the  case  of 
elections. 

Conduct  of  Primaries — Manner  of  Voting. — Section  12.  1.  The  provisions 
of  chapter  5,  statutes  of  1898,  shall  be  applicable  to  the  conduct  of  pri- 
maries where  not  otherwise  provided.  Section  47,  statutes  of  1898,  is  hereby 
amended  so  that  all  election  officers  shall  be  chosen  or  appointed  in  the 
manner  therein  provided,  except  that  such  choice  shall  be  made  In  the 
month  of  August  instead  of  September,  as  therein  now  provided. 


102  Wisconsin  Primary  Election  Lckw 

2.  The  polls  at  primaries   shall  be   open: 

(a)  In  cities,  from  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  until  nine  o'clock  m  the 
©vGnins" 

(b)  In  all  other  precincts,  from  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  until  eight 
o'clock  in  the  evening; 

3.  At  all  primaries  there  shall  be  an  Australian  ballot  made  up  of  the 
several  party*  tickets  herein  provided  for,  all  of  which  shall  be  securely 
fastened  together  at  the  top  and  folded,  provided  that  there  shall  be  as 
manv  separate  tickets  as  there  are  parties  entitled  to  participate  in  said 
primarv  election.  There  shall  also  be  attached  a  non-partisan  ticket  upon 
which, 'under  the  appropriate  title  of  each  ofhce  shall  be  printed  the  names 
of  all  persons  for  whom  nomination  papers  shall  have  been  filed,  as  repuired 
by  this  act,  who  are  not  designated  on  such  nomination  papers  as  candi- 
dates of  any  political  party,  as  defined  by  this  act.  The  names  of  all  can- 
didates shall  be  arranged  alphabetically  according  to  surnames  under  the 
appropriate  title  of  the  respective  offices  and  under  the  proper  party  desig- 
nation upon  the  party  ticket  or  upon  the  non-partisan  ticket  as  the  case 
may  be.  If  any  elector  write  upon  his  ticket  the  name  of  any  person  who 
is  a  candidate  for  the  same  office  upon  some  other  ticket  than  that  upon 
which  his  name  is  so  written,  this  ballot  shall  be  counted  for  such  person 
onlv  as  a  candidate  of  the  party  upon  whose  ticket  his  name  is  written, 
and  shall  in  no  case  be  counted  for  such  person  as  a  candidate  upon  any 
other  ticket.  In  case  the  person  is  nominated  upon  more  than  one  ticket, 
he  shall  forthwith  file  with  the  proper  officer,  or  officers  in  charge  of  the 
preparation  of  the  ballots,  a  written  declaration  indicating  the  party  desig- 
nation under  which  his  name  is  to  be  printed  on  the  official  ballot.  Ihe 
ballots  with  the  endorsements  shall  be  in  substantially  the  form  heretofore 
annexed,  provided  that  ballots  for  any  city  primary  may  be  varied  as  to 
the  title  of  the  offices  to  be  printed  thereon,  so  as  to  conform  to  the  law 
under  which  each  such  primary  is  held.  The  provisions  of  section  51.  stat- 
utes of  1898,  so  far  as  applicable  shall  govern  the  preparation  of  the  ballot. 
After  preparing  his  ballot,  the  elector  shall  detach  the  same  from  the  re- 
maining tickets  and  fold  it  so  that  its  face  will  be  concealed  and  th"e 
printed  endorsements  and  signatures  or  initials  thereon  seen.  The  remain- 
ing tickets  attached  together  shall  be  folded  in  like  manner  by  the  elector 
who  shall  thereupon,  without  leaving  the  polling  place,  vote  the  marked 
ballot  forthwith,  and  deposit  the  remaining  tickets  in  the  separate  ballot 
box  to  be  marked  and  designated  as  the  blank  ballot  box.  Immediately 
after  the  canvass,  the  inspectors  shall,  without  examination,  destroy  the 
tickets   deposited  in   the  blank  ballot    box. 

Vacancies,  How  Filled.— Section  13.  Vacancies  occurring  after  the  hold- 
ing of  any  primary  shall  be  filled  by  the  party  committee  of  the  city,  dis- 
trict,  county  or  state  as   the  case  may  be.  ^   „  ^ 

Voting  and  Registration  at  Primaries,— Sect4on  14.  1.  No  person  shall  be 
entitled  to  vote  at  anv  primary  unless  a  qualified  elector  of  the  precmct 
and   duly  registered  therein,    if  registration  thereat  be  required   by  law. 

2.  Every  primary  election  day  and  the  Monday  next  preceding  it. 
shall  be  registration  days,  where  registration  is  required,  on  which  the  in- 
spectors shall  exercise  the  powers  prescribed  by  sections  25  and  26.  statutes 
of  1898;  but  no  person  shall  be  registered  on  or  after  the  day  of  holding  the 
primary  without  personally  appearing  before   the  inspectors. 

3.  The  inspectors  shall  register  any  person  who  shall  on  any  registra- 
tion dav  file  an  oath  or  affirmation  to  the  effect  that  he  is  a  qualified 
elector  in  such   precinct,   or  when  they   personally  know   him  to   be  such. 

4  Any  person  registered  on  either  of  said  days  as  prescribed  herein, 
shall    be    entitled   to   vote    at   the    succeeding   election    without   other    regis- 

5.  There  shall  be  no  other  registration  day  or  days  for  either  a  pri- 
mary, a  general  or  a  city  election,  except  that  prescribed  by  section  27,  of 
the   statutes    of   1898.  .  ,       .^  .  •  ^    .v,5c 

6.  No  voter  shall  be  required  to  register  under  the  provisions  of  this 
act   where   registration    is   not  now  required    by  law.  .  ^     ..        . 

7  The  inspectors  shall  be  in  session  for  the  purpose  of  registration  from 
nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  until  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  except  that 
on  the  dav  of  holding  the  primary  they  shall  be  in  session  from  six  o  clock 
in  the  morning  until  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening.  No  inspector  or  clerk 
shall  be  paid  to  exceed  three  dollars  as  compensation  for  his  services  on 
any  registration,    primary,   general   or  city   election    day. 

Chalienqes.— Section  15.  The  party  committee  of  each  precinct  may  ap- 
Doint  in  writing  over  their  signatures,  two  party  agents  or  representatives, 
with  an  alternate  for  each,  who  shall  act  as  challengers  for  their  respective 
parties,  and  have  the  power  prescribed  by  section  46,  statutes  of  1898.  ine 
right  of  any  person  to  vote  at  a  primary  may  be  challenged  upon  the  same 
ground  and  his  right  to  vote  be  determined  in  the  same  manner  as  at  an 
election.  The  chairman  of  each  party  committee  of  any  precinct  may  rep- 
resent his  party  at  the  polling  booth  during  the  canvass  and  return  of  the 
vote  at  a  primary,  or  he  may  appoint  an  agent  or  designate  a  member  of 
his  committee  for  that  purpose. 


Wisconsin  Primary  Election  Law  103 

Canvass  of  Votes. — Section  16.  Canvass  of  votes  cast  shall,  except  as 
herein  otherwise  provided,  be  made  in  the  same  manner  and  by  the  same 
officers  as  the  canvass  of  an  election.  The  party  chairman  of  the  precinct 
in  a  precinct  canvass,  of  the  county  in  a  county  canvass,  of  the  state  in  a 
state  canvass,  or  some  duly  appointed  agent  to  represent  each  party  shall 
be   allowed   to   be   present   and   observe   the   proceedings. 

1.  The  precinct  inspectors  of  election  shall,  on  separate  sheets,  on 
blanks  to  be  provided  for  that  purpose,  make  full  and  accurate  returns  of 
the  votes  cast  for  each  candidate,  and  shall  within  twenty-four  hours  cause 
to  be  delivered  one  copy  of  such  returns  as  to  each  political  party,  to  the 
county  chairman  of  that  party  and  also  cause  such  returns  to  be  delivered 
to  the  county  clerk,  if  a  September  primary,  or  to  the  chairman  of  the  city 
committee  and  city  clerk  if  a  city  primary,  provided  always  that  such  re- 
turns  shall    be   sent  by  registered   mail  where    practicable. 

2.  The  county  canvass  of  the  returns  of  the  September  primary  shall  be 
made  by  the  same  officers  and  in  the  same  manner  provided  in  chapter  5, 
statutes  of  1898,  for  the  canvass  of  the  returns  of  a  November  election. 
The  canvassers  shall  meet  and  canvass  such  returns  at  ten  o'clock  on  the 
Friday  following  the  September  primary.  Their  returns  shall  contain  the 
whole  number  of  votes  cast  for  each  candidate  of  each  political  party,  and 
a  duplicate  as  to  each  political  party  shall  be  delivered  to  the  county  chair- 
man   of    such    party. 

3.  The  canvassers  shall  also  make  an  additional  duplicate  return  in  the 
same  form  as  provided  in  subdivision  2.  showing  the  votes  cast  for  each 
candidate  not  voted  for  wholly  within  the  limits  of  the  county.  The  county 
clerk  shall  forthwith  send  to  the  secretary  of  state  by  registered  mail  one 
complete  copy  of  all  returns  as  to  such  candidates,  and  he  shall  likewise 
send  to  the  chairman  of  the  state  central  committee  of  each  party  a  duph- 
cate  copy  of  the  returns  last  described  relating  to  such  candidates  of  each 
such   party. 

State  Board  of  Canvassers,  How  Constituted  and  Governed. — Section  17. 
The  board  of  canvassers  provided  for  by  section  93,  statutes  of  1898,  to 
canvass  returns  of  a  November  election,  shall  constitute  the  state  board  of 
canvassers  of  September  primaries,  and  all  the  provisions  of  section  94  and 
94b  inclusive  of  said  statutes  relating  to  the  canvass  of  the  return  of  a 
November  election,  shall,  as  far  as  applicable,  apply  to  the  canvass,  re- 
turn, and  certification  to  the  secretary  of  state  of  such  primary.  Such 
board  shall  meet  at  the  office  of  the  secretary  of  state  at  10  o'clock  a.  m. 
on  the  third  Tuesday  of  September  next  after  the  September  primary. 

Party  Candidates.— Section  IS.  1.  The  person  receiving  the  greatest  num- 
ber of  votes  at  a  primarv  as  the  candidate  of  a  party  for  an  office,  shall 
be  the  candidate  of  that  party  for  such  office,  and  his  name  as  such  candi- 
date shall  be   placed  on   the   official  ballot  at  the  following  election. 

2.  As  soon  as  a  state  canvass  of  a  primary  shall  be  certified  to  him, 
the  secretarv  of  state  shall  publish  in  the  official  state  paper  a  certified 
statement  of  the  result  of  such  primary  as  to  candidates  for  state  officers. 
United  States  senators  and  representatives  in  congress,  and  any  other  can- 
didate whose  district  extends  beyond  the  limits  of  a  single  county,  and  shall 
mail  to  the  chairman  of  the  state  central  committee  of  each  party  so  mtich 
of  such  certificate  as   relates  to  his  party.  ^    ^^  j.   ■, 

Secretary  of  State  to  Certify  to  County  Clerks.— Section  19.  1.  Not  less 
than  fourteen  days  before  any  November  election  the  secretary  of  state 
shall  certify  to  the  county  clerk  of  each  county  within  which  any  of  the 
electors  may  vote  for  the  candidates  for  such  offices,  the  name  and  de- 
scription of  each  person  nominated  for  any  such  office  as  specified  in  tne 
nomination  papers.  ,.  . .   .^      o.     ^-        oa 

City  Beard  of  Canvassers;  Quorum;  iVIeetmgs,  When  Held.— Section  JO. 
The  canvass  of  the  returns  of  a  city  primary  shall  be  made  by  the  mayor, 
the  citv  clerk,  and  the  treasurer  of  such  city,  any  two  of  whom  shall^  con- 
stitute'a  quorum.  Such  board  of  canvassers  shall  meet  at  eleven  o  clock 
in  the  forenoon  of  the  day  following  the  city  primary  and  canvass  the  vote 
substantiallv  as  provided  by  sections  82  and  83.  statutes  of  1898.  They  shall 
make  and  certifv  duplicate  returns  as  to  the  votes  cast  for  the  candidates 
and  forthwith  certify  and  file  one  complete  return  with  tne  city  clerk  and 
deliver  so  much  of  the  other  as  relates  to  each  party  to  the  respective  city 

^  ^S?"fl?'as  applicable  and  not  otherwise  provided  herein,  the  provisions  of 
this  act  shall  applv  to  all  city  primaries,  provided  that  the  nomination  papers 
therefor  shall  be  filed  at  least  fifteen  days,  a  list  of  candidate  posted  and 
published  at  least  ten  days,  and  the  official  ballot  printed  at  least  four 
days  before  the  day  for  holding  such  primaries.  .  ,,^t«^ 

Party  Committees.— Section  21.  1.  At  the  September  primary  each  voter- 
may  write  in  the  space  left  on  his  ticket  for  that  purpose  the  names  of  not 
to  exceed  three  quahfied  electors  of  the  precinct  for  members  of  his  party 
precinct  committee.  The  three  having  the  highest  number  of  votes  shall 
Constitute  such  committee,  and  the  one  having  the  largest  vote  shall  be 
chairman  The  official  return  made  by  the  inspectors  shall  show  the  name 
and  address   of   each  party  committeeman   chosen. 


104  Wisconsin  Pt'imary  Electioii  Law 

2.  The  party  committee  of  each  city  and  county  and  of  each  assembly- 
district  shall  consist  of  the  party  chairman  of  each  precinct  in  such  city, 
county,  or  district;  the  state  senatorial  district  committee  of  the  chair- 
man of  the  assembly  district  committees  in  such  senatorial  district;  the 
congressional  committees  of  the  party  chairman  of  the  senatorial  district 
committees,  wholly  or  partially,  within  such  congressional  district;  the 
state  central  committee  as  hereinafter  provided.  Each  such  committee 
shall   choose  its  officers  by  ballot   excepting  as  herein  provided. 

3.  Each  committee  and  its  officers  shall  have  the  powers  usually  exer- 
cised bv  such  committees,  and  by  the  officers  thereof,  m  so  far  as  is  con- 
sistent with  this  act.  The  various  officers  and  committees  now  m  existence 
shall  exercise  the  powers  and  perform  the  duties  herein  prescribed  until 
their  successors  are  chosen  in  accordance  with  this  act.  At  all  meetings 
of  said  city,  county  and  assembly  district  committees,  each  precinct  chair- 
man shall  have  one  vote  for  every  fifty  votes,  or  major  fraction  thereof, 
cast  by  his  party  in  his  precinct  at  the  last  general  election,  each  such 
chairman  to  have  at  least  one  vote,  the  vote  at  such  general  election  to  be 
determined  as  provided  in  section  5  of  this  act.  The  duties  of  the  P^^^y 
precinct  chairman,  when  he  shall  be  unable  to  perform  the  same,  shall  be 
performed  by  a  member  of  his  party  precinct  committee  designated  by 
him.  The  duties  of  the  chairman  or  secretary  of  any  other  committee  may 
be  performed  by  members  of  such  committee,  selected  by  such  chairman  or 
secretary.  Any  vacancy  in  any  committee  office  shall  be  filled  m  the  sarne 
manner  as  that  in  which  such  officer  was  originally  chosen,  except  that  in 
the  case  of  a  vacancy  in  the  chairmanship  of  a  precmct  committee,  the 
committee  shall  elect  one  of  its  members  to  fill  such  vacancy. 

Party  Platform.— Section  22.  The  candidates  for  the  variolis  srate  offices, 
and  for  senate  and  assembly  nominated  by  each  political  party  at  such 
primary,  shall  meet  at  the  capitol  at  twelve  o'clock  noon  on  the  fourth 
Tuesday  of  September  after  the  date  on  which  any  primary  is  held  pre- 
liminary to  any  general  election.  They  shall  forthwith  formulate  the  state 
platform  of  their  party.  They  shall  thereupon  proceed  to  elect  a  state 
central  committee  of  at  least  two  members  from  each  cong-ressional  district 
and  a  chairman  of  such  committee,  and  perform  such  other  business  as 
may  properly  be  brought  before  such  meeting.  The  platform  of  each  party 
shall  be  framed  at  such  time  that  it  shall  be  made  public,  not  later  than 
six  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of   the  following  day.  ,  .       ^i,      4.4 

Miscellaneous  Provisions.— Section  23.  1.  In  case  of  a  tie  vote,  the  tie 
shall   forthwith   be    determined   by    lot   by   the   canvassers. 

2.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  secretary  of  state  and  attorney  general, 
on  or  before  July  1st,  1905.  to  prepare  all  forms  necessary  to  carry  out  the 
provisions  of  this  act.  which  forms  shall  be  substantially  followed  in  all 
primaries  held  in  pursuance  hereof.  Such  forms  shall  be  printed  with 
copies  of  this  act  for  public  use  and  distribution.  Every  day  on  which  a 
September  primary  shall  be  held  shall  be  a  legal  holiday. 

The  Penal  Provision.- Section  24.  1.  Any  person  who  shall  offer,  or 
with  knowledge  of  the  same,  permit  any  person  to  offer  for  his  benefit  any 
bribe  to  a  voter  to  induce  him  to  sign  any  election  paper  to  any  person  who 
shall  accept  any  such  bribe  or  promise  of  gain  of  any  kind  m  the  nature 
of  a  bribe  as  cosideration  for  signing  the  same,  whether  such  bribe  or 
promise  of  gain  in  the  nature  of  a  bribe  be  offered  or  accepted  before  or 
after  such  signing,  shall  be  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor  and  upon  trial  and 
conviction  thereof  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  less  than  twenty-five  nor 
more  than  five  hundred  dollars,  or  by  imprisonment  in  the  county  jail  of 
not  less  than  ten  days  nor  more  than  six  months,  or  by  both  fine  and  im- 
pnsonmen  .^^^  declared  an  offense  by  the  general  laws  of  this  state  con- 
cerning caucuses  and  elections  shall  also,  in  like  case,  be  an  offense  in  all 
primaries  and  shall  be  punished  in  the  same  form  and  manner  as  therein 
provided,  and  all  the  penalties  and  provisions  of  the  law  as  to  such  cau- 
cuses and  elections,  except  as  herein  otherwise  provided,  sha  apply  in  such 
case  with   equal  force,   and  to  the  same  extent  as  though  fully  set  forth  m 

3  Any  person  who  shall  forge  any  name  of  a  signer  or  witness  to  a 
nomination  paper  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  forgery,  and  on  conviction  pun- 
ished accordingly.  Any  person  who,  being  in  possession  of  nomination 
papers  eXled^fo  be  filed  under  this  act.  or  any  act  of  the  legislature 
shall  wrongfullv  either  suppress,  neglect,  or  fail  to  cause  the  same  to  be 
filed  at  the  pr6per  time  in  the  proper  office  shall  upon  conviction,  be  pun- 
ished bv  imprisonment  in  the  county  jail  not  to  exceed  six  months,  or  by  a 
fine  not  to  exceed  five  hundred  dollars,  or  by  both  such  fine  and  imprison- 
ment in  the  discretion  of  the  court.  or      mv,  •  •  t    ^r^r.^ 

General  Election  Laws  to  Apply.— Secnon  25.  The  provisions  of  the 
statutes  now  in  force  in  relation  to  the  holding  of  elections,  the  solicitation 
of  voters  at  the  polls,  the  challenging  of  voters  the  manner  of  conducting 
elections    of  counting  the  ballots   and  making  return  thereof,    and  all   other 


Wisconsin  Primary  Election  Law  105 

kindred  subjects,  shall  apply  to  all  primaries  in  so  far  as  they  are  con- 
sistent with  this  act,  the  intent  of  this  act  being  to  place  the  primary 
under  the  regulation  and  protection  of  the  laws  now  in  force  as  to  elections. 

Submission  of  Act  to  Vote  of  People;  When  to  Take  Effect  if  Approved. — 
Section  26.  The  question  whether  the  foregoing  provisions  of  this  act 
shall  take  effect  and  be  in  force  shall  be  submitted  to  the  people  of  this 
state,  in  the  manner  provided  by  law  for  the  submission  of  an  amendment 
to  the  constitution,  at  the  next  general  election  to  be  held  in  November,  1904. 

If  approved  by  a  majority  of  the  votes  cast  upon  that  question,  it  shall 
go  into  effect  and  be  in  force  from  and  after  such  ratification  by  the  people; 
otherwise   it  shall  not  take   effect  or  be   in  force.     Upon  the  ballot  shall  be 

printed    "Shall    Chapter (insert   on   the   ballot   the   number    of  chapter) 

of  the  laws  of  1903,  entitled,  "An  act  to  provide  for  party  nominations  by 
direct   vote'    be    adopted?" 

Conflicting  Laws  Repealed. — Section  27.  All  acts  or  parts  of  acts  in- 
consistent with  or  in  conflict  with  the  provisions  of  this  act  are  hereby 
repealed. 

When  to  Take  Effect. — Section  28.  This  act  shall  take  effect  and  be  in 
force  from  and  after  its  passage  and  publication  subject  to  all  provisions 
herein  contained  for  its  submission  to  the  people  for  their  ratification  or 
rejection. 

Approved    May   23rd,    1903. 

Published  June  3,   1903. 


WISCONSIN  R.  R.  RATE  COMMISSION  LAW 


AN  ACT  to  regulate  railroads  and  other  common  carriers  in  this  state, 
create  a  board  of  railroad  commissioners,  fix  their  salaries,  define  their 
duties,  prevent  the  imposition  of  unreasonable  rates,  prevent  unjust 
discriminations,  insure  an  adequate  railway  service,  prescribe  the  mode 
of  procedure  and  the  rules  of  evidence  in  relation  thereto,  prescribe 
penalties   for   violations,    and    making  an  appropriation    therefor. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  Wisconsin,  represented  in  Senate  and  Assem- 
bly,  do  enact   as   follows: 

Commission,     How    Created;    Qualifications,    etc. — Section    1.     A    railroad 

commission  is  herebv  created  to  be  composed  of  three  commissioners.  Im- 
mediately after  the  passage  of  this  act  the  governor  shall,  by  and  with  the 
advice  and  consent  of  the  senate,  appoint  such  commissioners,  but  no  com- 
missioner so  appointed  shall  be  qualified  to  act  until  so  confirmed.  The 
term  of  one  such  appointee  shall  terminate  on  the  first  Monday  in  Febru- 
ary, 1909;  the  term  of  the  second  such  appointee  shall  terminate  on  the 
first  Monday  in  February.  19H;  and  the  term  of  the  third  such  appointee 
shall  terminate  on  the  first  Monday  in  February.  1913.  In  January.  1909, 
and  biennially  thereafter,  there  shall  be  appointed  and  confirmed,  in  the 
same  manner,  one  commissioner  for  the  term  of  six  years  from  the  first 
Mondav  in  February  of  such  year.  Each  commissioner  so  appointed  shall 
hold  his  office  until  his  successor  is  appointed  and  qualified.  Any  vacancy 
shall  be  filled  by  appointment  by  the  governor  for  the  unexpired  term,  sub- 
ject to  confirmation  by  the  senate,  but  any  such  appointment  shall  be  in 
full   force   until   acted    upon  by  the   senate. 

a.  The  said  commissioners  shall  have  the  following  qualifications:  One 
shall  have  a  general  knowledge  of  railroad  law;  each  of  the  others  shall 
have   a  general   understanding  of  matters  relating  to  railroad  transportation. 

b.  The  governor  mav  at  any  time  remove  any  commissioner  for  ineffi- 
ciency, neglect  of  duty  or  malfeasance  in  office.  Before  such  removal  he 
shall  give  such  commissioner  a  copy  of  the  charges  against  him  and  shall 
fix  a  time  when  he  can  be  heard  in  his  own  defense,  which  shall  not  be 
less  than  ten  davs  thereafter,  and  said  hearing  shall  be  open  to  the  public. 
If  he  shall  be  removed  the  governor  shall  file  in  the  office  of  the  secretary 
of  state  a  complete  statement  of  all  charges  made  against  such  commis- 
sioner and   his  findings  thereon  with   the   record   of  the  proceedings. 

c.  No  person  so  appointed  shall  be  pecuniarily  interested  in  any  railroad 
in  this  state  or  elsewhere,  and  if  any  such  commissioner  shall  voluntarily 
become  so  interested,  his  office  shall  ipso  facto  become  vacant;  and  if  he 
shall  become  so  interested  otherwise  than  voluntarily  he  shall  within  a 
reasonable  time  divest  himself  of  such  interest;  failing  so  to  do,  his  office 
shall    become    vacant. 

d.  No  commissioner,  nor  the  secretary,  shall  hold  any  other  office  or 
position  of  profit,  or  pursue  any  other  business  or  vocation,  or  serve  on  or 
under  any  committee  of  any  political  party,  but  shall  devote  his  entire  time 
to    the   duties   of    his    offi-ce. 

e.  Before  entering  upon  the  duties  of  his  office,  each  of  said  commis- 
sioners shall  take  and  subscribe  the  constitutional  oath  of  office,  and  shall 
in  addition  thereto  swear  (or  affirm)  that  he  is  not  pecuniarily  interested  in 
anv  railroad  in  this  state  or  elsewhere,  and  that  he  holds  no  other  office  of 
profit,  nor  any  position  under  any  political  committee  or  party;  which  oath 
or  affirmation  shall  be  filed  in  the  office  of  the  secretary  of  state. 

f.  Each  of  said  commissioners  shall  receive  an  annual  salary  of  five 
thousand  dollars,  payable  in  the  same  manner  as  salaries  of  other  state 
officers    are    paid.  ,    „        ......       ^         *. 

g.  The  commissioners  appointed  under  this  act  shall  withm  twenty 
days  after  their  appointment  and  confirmation  meet  at  the  state  capitol 
and  organize  bv  electing  one  of  their  number  chairman,  who  shall  serve 
until  the  second'  Monday  of  February,  1907.  On  the  second  Monday  of  Feb- 
ruary in  each  odd  numbered  year  the  commissioners  shall  meet  at  the 
office  of  the  commission  and  elect  a  chairman,  who  shall  serve  for  two 
years  and  until  his  successor  is  elected.  A  majority  of  said  commissioners 
shall  constitute  a  quorum  to  transact  business,  and  any  vacancy  shall  not 
impair  the  right  of  the  remaining  commissioners  to  exercise  all  the  powers 
of    the    commission.  t        t.   ^ « 

h  Said  commission  may  appoint  a  secretary  at  a  salary  of  not  more 
than  twenty-five  hundred  dollars  per  annum,  and  may  appoint  not  more 
than  three  clerks,   two  of  whom  shall  receive  an  annual  salary  not  exceed- 


Wisconsin  R.  R.  Rate  Commission  Law  107 

ing  one  thousand  dollars  each,  and  one  of  whom  shall  be  an  expert  sten- 
ographer and  receive  an  annual  salary  not  exceeding  fifteen  hundred  dol- 
lars, and  may  employ  such  other  experts  as  may  be  necessary  to  perform 
any   service    it   may   require    of   them,   and   shall    fix   their   compensation. 

i.  The  secretary  shall  take  and  subscribe  to  an  oath  similar  to  that  of 
the  commissioners,  and  shall  keep  full  and  correct  records  of  all  transac- 
tions and  proceedings  of  the  commission,  and  shall  perform  such  other 
duties  as  may  be  required  by  the  commission.  Any  person  ineligible  to  the 
office  of  commissioner  shall   be  ineligible  to  the  office   of  secretary. 

j.  The  commissioners  shall  be  known  collectively  as  "Railroad  Com- 
mission of  Wisconsin,"  and  in  that  name  may  sue  and  be  sued.  It 
shall  have  a  seal  with  the  words  "Railroad  Commission  of  Wisconsin,"  and 
such  other  design  as  the  commission  may  prescribe  engraved  thereon,  by 
which  it  shall  authenticate  its  proceedings  and  of  which  the  courts  shall 
take  judicial  notice. 

k.  The  commission  shall  keep  its  ofRce  at  the  capitol,  and  shall  be 
provided  by  the  superintendent  of  public  property  with  suitable  room  or 
rooms,  necessary  office  furniture,  supplies,  stationery,  books,  periodicals, 
maps,  and  all  necessary  expenses  shall  be  audited  and  paid  as  other  state 
expenses  are  audited  and  paid.  The  commission  may  hold  sessions  at  any 
place  other  than  the  capitol  when  the  convenience  of  the  parties  so  re- 
quires. The  commissioners,  secretary  and  clerks,  and  such  experts  as  may 
be  employed,  shall  be  entitled  to  receive  from  the  state  their  actual  neces- 
sary expenses  while  traveling  on  the  business  of  the  commission.  Such 
expenditures  to  be  sworn  to  by  the  person  who  incurred  the  expense  and 
approved   by    the    chairm.an    of   the  commission. 

1.  The  commission  shall  have  power  to  adopt  and  puolish  rules  to 
govern  its  procedings  and  to  regulate  the  mode  and  manner  of  all  investi- 
gations and  hearings  of  railroads  and  other  parties  before  it,  and  all  hear- 
ings  shall   be  open  to  the  public. 

m.  The  commission  may  confer  by  correspondence,  or  by  attending 
conventions,  or  otherwise,  with  the  railroad  commissioners  of  other  states, 
and  with  the  interstate  commerce  commission,  on  any  matters  relating  to 
railroads. 

The  Term  "Railroad"  Defined. — Section  2.  The  term  "railroad"  as  used 
herein  shall  mean  and  embrace  all  corporations,  companies,  individuals, 
associations  of  individuals,  their  lessees,  trustees  or  receivers  (appointed 
by  any  court  whatsoever)  that  now,  or  may  hereafter,  own,  operate,  man- 
age or  control  any  railroad  or  part  of  a  railroad  as  a  common  carrier  in 
this  state,  or  cars,  or  other  equipment  used  thereon,  or  bridges,  terminals, 
or  side  tracks,  used  in  connection  therewith,  whether  owned  by  such  rail- 
road or  otherwise.  The  term  "railroad"  whenever  used  herein  shall  also 
mean  and  embrace  express  companies,  and  all  duties  required  of  and  penal- 
ties imposed  upon  any  railroad  or  any  officer  or  agent  thereof  shall,  in  so 
far  as  the  same  are  applicable,  be  required  of  and  im.posed  upon  express 
companies  and  their  ofiicers  and  agents,  and  the  commission  shall  have 
the  power  of  supervision  and  control  of  express  companies  to  the  same  ex- 
tent as  railroads. 

a.  The  provisions  of  this  act  shall  apply  to  the  transportation  of  passen- 
gers and  projierty  between  points  within  this  state,  and  to  the  receiving, 
switching,  delivering,  storing  and  handling  of  such  property,  and  to  all 
charges  connected  therewith,  and  shall  apply  to  all  railroad  corporations. 
express  companies,  car  companies,  sleeping  car  companies,  freight  and 
freight  line  companies,  and  to  all  associations  of  persons,  whether  incorpo- 
rated or  otherwise,  that  .«hall  do  business  as  common  carriers  upon  or  over 
any  line  of  railroad  within  this  state,  and  to  any  common  carrier  engaged 
in  the  transportation  of  passengers  and  property  wholly  by  rail  or  partly 
by   rail   and    partly    by    water. 

b.  This  act  shall  not  apply  to  street  and  electric  railroads  engaged 
solely  in  the  transportation  of  passengers  within  the  limits  of  cities,  nor 
to  logging  or  other  private   railroads  not  doing  business  as  common  carriers. 

Service,  Rates,  etc.— Section  3.  Every  railroad  is  hereby  required  to 
furnish  reasonablv  adequate  service  and  facilities,  and  the  charges  made 
for  any  service  rendered  or  to  be  rendered  in  the  transportation  of  passen- 
gers or  pror.ertv  or  for  any  service  in  connection  therewith,  or  for  the  re- 
ceiving, switching,  delivering,  storing  or  handling  of  such  property,  shall 
be  reasonable  and  just,  and  every  unjust  and  unreasonable  charge  for  such 
service    is    prohibited  and   declared   to  be   unlawful.  ,    .      ^  .q    «i 

Schedules.— Section  4.  Every  railroad  shall  print  in  plain  type  and  hie 
with  the  commission  within  a  time  to  be  fixed  by  the  commission,  sched- 
ules which  shall  be  open  to  public  inspection,  showing  all  rates,  tares  ana 
charges  for  the  transportation  of  passengers  ard  property  and  any_  service 
in  connection  therewith,  which  it  has  established  and  which  are  m  force 
at  the  time  between  all  points  in  this  state  upon  its  line,  or  any  line  con- 
trolled or  operated  bv  it,  and  the  rates,  fares  and  charges  shown  on  the 
schedules  whioh  are  to  take  effect  prior  to  January  1,  1906  shall  riot  ex- 
ceed the  rates,  fares  and  charges  shown  on  the  schedules  filed  under  the 
provisions    of   section   35    of    this   act.     The    schedules    printed    as    aforesaid 


108  Wisconsin  E.  B.  Bate  Commission  Law 

shall  plainly  state  the  places  upon  its  line  or  any  line  controlled  or  oper- 
ated by  it  in  this  state  between  which  passengers  and  property  will  be 
carried,  and  there  shall  be  filed  therewith  the  classification  of  freight  in 
force.  Every  railroad  shall  publish  with  and  as  a  part  of  such  schedules 
all  rules  and  regulation  that  in  any  manner  affect  the  rates  charged  or  to 
be  charged  for  the  transportation  of  possengers  or  property,  also  its  charges 
for  delay  in  loading  or  unloading  cars,  for  track  and  car  service  or  rental 
and  for  demurrage,  switching,  terminal  or  transfer  service,  or  for  render- 
ing any  other  service  in  connection  with  the  transportation  of  persons  or 
property.  Two  copies  of  said  schedules  for  the  use  of  the  public  shall  be 
filed  and  kept  in  file  in  every  depot,  station  and  office  of  such  railroad  where 
passengers  or  freight  are  received  for  transportation  in  such  form  and 
place  as  to  be  accessible  to  the  public  and  can  be  conveniently  inspected. 
When  passengers  or  property  are  transported  over  connecting  lines  in  this 
state  operated  by  more  than  one  railroad,  and  the  several  railroads  operat- 
ing such  lines  establish  joint  rates,  fares  and  charges,  a  schedule  of  joint 
rates  shall  also  in  like  manner  be  printed  and  filed  with  the  commission 
and  in  everj'  depot,  statiorr  and  office  of  such  railroads  where  such  passen- 
gers or   property  are  received   for   transportation. 

a.  No  change  shall  thereafter  be  made  in  any  schedule,  including  sched- 
ule of  joint  rates,  or  in  any  classification,  except  upon  ten  days'  notice  to 
the  commission,  and  all  such  changes  shall  be  plainly  indicated  upon  ex- 
isting schedules,  or  by  filing  new  schedules  in  lieu  thereof  ten  days  prior 
to  the  time  the  same  are  to  lake  effect;  provided,  that  the  commission, 
upon  application  of  any  railroad,  may  prescribe  a  less  time  within  which  a 
reduction  may  be  made.  Copies  of  all  new  schedules  shall  be  filed  as  here- 
inbefore provided  in  every  depot,  station  and  office  of  such  railroad,  ten 
days  prior  to  the  time  the  same  are  to  take  effect  unless  the  commission 
shall    prescribe    a   less    time. 

b.  Whenever  a  change  is  made  in  any  existing  schedule,  including  sched- 
ule of  joint  rates,  a  notice  shall  be  posted  by  the  railroad  in  a  conspicuous 
place  in  every  depot,  station  and  office,  stating  that  changes  have  been 
made  in  the  schedules  on  file,  specifying  the  class  or  commodity  affected 
and  the  date  when  the  same  will  take  effect. 

c.  It  shall  be  unlawful  for  any  railroad  to  charge,  demand,  collect  or 
receive  a  greater  or  less  compensation  for  the  transportation  of  passengers 
or  property  or  for  any  service  in  connection  therewith  than  is  specified  in 
such  printed  schedules,  including  schedules  of  joint  rates,  as  may  at  the 
time  be  in  force,  and  the  rates,  fares  and  charges  named  therein  shall  be 
the  lawful  rates,  fares  and  charges  until  the  same  are  changed  as  herein 
provided. 

d.  The  commission  may  prescribe  such  changes  in  the  form  in  which 
the   schedules   are  issued   by  the  railroad  as   may  be  found  expedient. 

Joint  Rates. — Section  5.  Whenever  passengers  or  property  are  trans- 
ported over  two  or  more  connecting  lines  of  railroad  between  points  in  this 
state,  and  the  railroad  companies  have  made  joint  rates  for  the  transporta- 
tion of  the  sam.e,  such  rates  and  all  charges  in  connection  therewith  shall 
be  just  and  reasonable,  and  every  unjust  and  unreasonable  charge  is  pro- 
hibited and  declared  to  be  unlawful;  provided,  that  a  less  charge  by  each 
of  said  railroads  for  its  proportion  of  such  joint  I'ates  than  is  made  locally 
between  the  same  points  on  their  respective  lines  shall  not  for  that  reason 
be  construed  as  a  violation  of  the  provisions  of  this  act,  nor  render  such 
railroads  liable  to  any  of  the  penalties  hereof. 

Commodity  Rates. — Section  6.  Nothing  in  this  act  shall  be  construed  to 
prevent  concentration,  commodity,  transit  and  other  special  contract  rates, 
but  all  such  rates  shall  be  open  to  all  shippers  for  a  like  kind  of  traffic 
under  similar  circumstances  and  conditions,  and  shall  be  subject  to  the 
provisions  of  this  act  as  to  the  nrinting  and  filing  of  the  same:  Provided, 
all  such  rates  shall  be  under  the  supervision  and  regulation  of  the  com- 
mission. 

Classification.— Section  7.  There  shall  be  but  one  classification  of  freight 
in   the  state   which  shall  be  uniform   on   all  railroads. 

Reduced  Rates  and  Free  Transportation. — Section  8.  Nothing  herein 
shall  prevent  the  cai-riage,  storage  or  handling  of  freight  free  or  at  reduced 
rates  for  the  United  States,  the  state,  or  any  municipality  thereof,  or  for 
charitable  purposes,  or  to  and  from  fairs  and  expositions  for  exhibition 
thereat,  or  household  goods  the  property  of  railway  employes;  or  the  issu- 
ance of  mileage,  commutation  or  excursion  passengers'  tickets,  provided 
that  the  same  shall  be  obtainable  by  any  person  applying  therefor  without 
discrimination,  or  of  party  tickets,  provided  that  the  same  shall  be  obtain- 
able by  all  persons  applying  therefor  under  like  circumstances  and  condi- 
tions. This  act  shall  not  be  construed  as  preventing  railroads  from  giving 
free  transportation  or  reduced  rates  therefor  to  any  minister  of  the  gospel, 
officer  or  agents  of  incorporated  colleges,  regular  agents  of  charitable  socle- 
ties,  when  traveling  upon  the  business  of  the  society  only,  destitute  and 
homeless  persons,  railroad  officer,  attorney,  director,  employe  or  members 
of  their  families;  or  to  prevent  the  exchange  of  passes  with  officers,  attor- 
neys or  employes  of  other  railroads  and  members  of  their  families;  provided. 


Wisconsin  B.  R.  Bate  Commission  Law  109 

that  no  person  holding:  any  public  ofRce  or  position  under  the  laws  of  this 
state  shall  be  given  free  transportation  or  reduced  rates  not  open  to  the 
public. 

a.  Upon  any  shipment  of  live  stock  or  other  property  of  such  nature  as 
to  require  the  care  of  an  attendant,  the  railroad  may  furnish  to  the  ship- 
per or  some  person  or  persons  designated  by  him,  free  transportation  for 
such  attendant,  including  return  passage  to  the  point  at  which  the  ship- 
ment originated;  provided,  there  shall  be  no  discrimination  in  reference 
thereto  between  such  shippers,  and  the  commission  shall  have  power  to  pre- 
scribe regulations  in  relation  thereto. 

Depots. — Section  9.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  every  railroad  to  provide 
and  maintain  adequate  depots  and  depot  buildings  at  its  regular  stations 
for  the  accommodation  of  passengers,  and  said  depot  buildings  shall  be 
kept  clean,  well  lighted  and  warmed,  for  the  comfort  and  accommodation 
of  the  traveling  public.  All  railroads  shall  keep  and  maintain  adequate  and 
suitable  freight  depots,  buildings,  switches  and  side  tracks  for  the  receiv- 
ing, handling  and  delivering  of  freight  transported  or  to  be  transported  by 
such  railroads;  provided,  that  this  shall  not  be  construed  as  repealing  any 
existing  law  on  the  subject. 

Distribution  of  Cars. — Section  10.  Every  railroad  shall,  when  within  its 
power  so  to  do,  and  upon  reasonable  notice,  furnish  suitable  cars  to  any 
and  all  persons  who  may  apply  therefor,  for  the  transportation  of  any  and 
all  kinds  of  freight  in  car  load  lots.  In  case  of  insufficiency  of  cars  at 
anv  time  to  meet  all  requirements,  such  cars  as  are  available  shall  be  dis- 
tributed among  the  several  applicants  therefor  in  proportion  to  their  re- 
spective im.mediate  requirements  without  discrimination  between  shippers 
or  competitive  or  non-competitive  places;  provided,  preference  may  be 
given  to  shipments  of  Live  stock  and  perishable  property. 

a.  The  commission  shall  have  power  to  enforce  reasonable  regulations 
for  furnishing  cars  to  shippers  and  switching  the  same,  and  for  the  loading 
and  unloading  thereof,  and  the  weighing  of  cars  and  freight  offered  for 
shipment   over  .any   line   of   railroad. 

Interchange  of  Traffic— Section  11.  All  railroads  shall  afford  all  rea- 
sonable and  proper  facilities  for  the  interchange  of  traffic  between  their 
respective  lines,  for  forwarding  and  delivering  passengers  and  property,  and 
shall  transfer  and  deliver  without  unreasonable  delay  or  discrimination  any 
freight  or  cars,  loaded  or  empty,  or  any  passengers  destined  to  any  point 
on  its  own  or  any  connecting  lines;  provided,  that  precedence  over  other 
freight  shall  be  given    to   live  stock  and   perishable   freight. 

a.  The  commission  shall  have  control  over  private  tracks  in  so  far 
as  the  same  are  used  by  comman  carriers,  in  connection  with  any  rail- 
road for  the  transportation  of  freight,  in  alj  respects  the  same  as  though 
such   tracks    were   a  part   of   the   track  of   said  railroad. 

Complaints  and  Investigations.— Section  12.  Upon  complaint  of  any  per- 
son, firm,  corporation  or  association,  or  of  any  mercantile,  agricultural  or 
manufacturing  society,  or  of  any  body  politic  or  municipal  organization, 
that  any  of  the  rates,  fares,  charges  or  classifications,  or  any  joint  rate 
or  rates  are  in  anv  respect  unreasonable  or  unjustly  discriminatory,  or  that 
any  regulation  or' practice  whatsoever  affecting  the  transportation  of  per- 
sons or  propertv.  or  any  service  in  connection  therewith,  are  in  any  respect 
unreasonable  or  unjustly  discriminatory,  or  that  any  service  is  inadequate, 
the  commission  may  notifv  the  railroad  complained  of  that  complamt  has 
been  made,  and  ten  davs  after  such  notice  has  been  given  the  commission 
may  proceed  to  investigate  the  same  as  hereinafter  provided.  Before  pro- 
ceeding to  make  such  investigation  the  commission  shall  give  the  railroad 
and  the  complainant  ten  davs'  notice  of  the  time  and  place  when  and  where 
such  matters  will  be  considered  and  determined,  and  said  parties  shall  be 
entitled  to  be  heard  and  shall  have  process  to  enforce  the  attendance  of 
witnesses.  If  upon  such  investigation  the  rate  or  rates,  fares,  charges  or 
classifications,  or  any  joint  rate  or  rates  or  any  regulation,  practice  or 
service  complained  of  shall  be  found  to  be  unreasonable  or  unjustly  dis- 
criminatory, or  the  service  shall  be  found  to  be  inadequate,  the  commission 
shall  have  power  to  fix  and  order  substituted  therefor  such  rate  or  rates, 
fares,  charges  or  classification  as  it  shall  have  determined  to  be  just  and 
reasonable  and  which  shall  be  charged,  imposed  and  followed  m  the  future, 
and  shall  also  have  power  to  make  such  orders  respecting  such  reflation, 
practice  or  service  as  it  shall  have  determined  to  be  reasonable  and  which 
shall  be   observed  and  followed  in   the  future.  „^„^^o+^^t. 

a  The  commission  mav,  when  complaint  is  made  of  more  than  one  rate  or 
charge,  order  separate  hearings  thereon,  and  may  consider  and  determine 
the  several  matters  complained  of  separately,  and  at  such  times  as  it  may 
prescribe.  No  complaint  shall  at  any  time  be  dismissed  because  of  the 
absence   of   direct    damage   to    the    complainant.  i,„^„^  ^„„ 

b.  ^^enever  the  commission  shall  beheve  that  any  rate  or  charge  may 
be  unreasonable  or  unjustly  discriminatory,  and  that  an  investigation  relat- 
ing thereto  should  be  made,  it  may,  upon  its  own  motion,  investigate  the 
same.     Before    making   such    investigation    it    shall   present   to   the    railroad 


110  Wisco7isin  B.  B.  Bate  Commission  Law 

a  statement  in  writing  setting  forth  the  rate  or  charge  to  be  investigated. 
Thereafter,  on  ten  days'  notice  to  the  railroad  of  the  time  and  place  of 
such  investigation,  the  commission  ma^^  proceed  to  investigate  such  rate 
or  charge  in  the  same  manner  and  make  like  orders  in  respect  thereto  as 
if   such   investigation  had  been   made   upon   complaint. 

c.  This  section  shall  be  construed  to  permit  any  railroad  to  make  com- 
plaint with  like  effect  as  though  made  by  any  person,  firm,  corporation  or 
association,  mercantile,  agricultural  or  manufacturing  society,  body  politic 
or    municipal    organization. 

Witnesses,  Depositions,  etc. — Section  13.  Each  of  the  commissioners,  for 
the  purposes  mentioned  in  this  act,  shall  have  power  to  administer  oaths, 
certify  to  official  acts,  issue  subpoenas,  compel  the  attendance  of  witnesses, 
and  the  production  of  papers,  way-bills,  books,  accounts,  documents  and 
testimony.  In  case  of  disobedience  on  the  part  of  any  person  or  persons 
to  comply  with  any  order  of  the  commission  or  any  commissioner  or  any 
subpoena,  or  on  the  refusal  of  any  witness  to  testify  to  any  matter  regard- 
ing which  he  may  be  lawfully  interrogated,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 
circut  court  of  any  county,  or  the  judge  thereof,  on  application  of  a  com- 
missioner, to  compel  obedience  by  attachment  proceedings  for  contempt, 
as  in  the  case  of  disobedience  of  the  requirements  of  a  subpoena  issued 
from,   such   court,   or  a   refusal  to  testify  therein. 

a.  Each  witness  who  shall  appear  before  the  commission  by  its  order 
shall  receive  for  his  attendance  the  fees  and  mileage  now  provided  for  wit- 
nesses in  civil  cases  in  courts  of  record,  which  shall  be  audited  and  paid 
by  the  state  in  the  same  manner  as  other  expenses  are  audited  and  paid, 
upon  the  presentation  of  proper  vouchres  sworn  to  by  such  witnesses  and 
approved  by  the  chairman  of  the  comm.ission;  provided,  that  no  witness 
subpoenaed  at  the  instance  of  parties  other  than  the  commission  shall  be 
entitled  to  compensation  from  the  state  for  attendance  or  travel  unless  the 
commission  shall  certify  that  his  testimony  was  material  to  the  matter  in- 
vestigated. 

b.  The  comimission  or  any  party  may  in  any  investigation  cause  the 
depositions  of  witnesses  residing  within  or  without  the  state  to  be  taken 
in  the  manner  prescribed  by  law  for  like  depositions  in  civil  actions  in 
circuit    courts. 

c.  A  full  and  complete  record  shall  be  kept  of  all  proceedings  had  be- 
fore the  commission  on  asy  investigation  had  under  section  12  of  this  act, 
and  all  testimony  shall  be  taken  down  by  the  stenographer  appointed  by 
the  commission.  Whenever  any  complaint  is  served  upon  the  commission 
under  the  provisions  of  section  16  of  this  act  the  commission  shall,  before 
said  action  is  reached  for  trial,  cause  a  certified  transcript  of  all  proceed- 
ings had  and  testimony  taken  upon  such  investigation  to  be  filed  with  the 
clerk  of  the  circuit  court  of  the  county  where  the  action  is  pending.  A 
transcribed  copy  of  the  evidence  and  proceedings,  or  any  specific  part 
thereof,  on  any  investigation,  taken  by  the  stenographer  appointed  by  the 
commission,  being  certified  by  such  stenographer  to  be  a  true  and  correct 
transcript  in  long  hand  of  all  the  testimony  on  the  investigation,  or  of  a 
particular  witness,  or  of  other  specific  part  thereof,  carefully  compared  by 
him  with  his  original  notes,  and  to  be  a  correct  statement  of  the  evidence 
and  proceedings  had  on  such  investigation  so  purportng  to  be  taken  and 
transcribed,  shall  be  received  in  evidence  with  the  same  effect  as  if  such 
reporter  were  present  and  testified  to  the  facts  so  certified.  A  copy  of 
such  transcript  shall  be  furnished  on  demand,  free  of  cost,  to  any  party  to 
such   investigation. 

Substitution  and  Enforcement  of  Rates. — Section  14.  Whenever,  upon  an 
Investigation  made  under  the  provisions  of  this  act,  the  commission  shall 
find  any  existing  rate  or  rates,  fares,  charges  or  classifications,  or  any  joint 
rate  or  rates,  or  any  regulation  or  practice  whatsoever  affecting  the  trans- 
portation of  persons  or  property,  or  any  service  in  connection  therewith, 
are  unreasonable  or  unjustly  discriminatory,  or  any  service  is  inadequate, 
it  shall  determine  and  by  order  fix  a  reasonable  rate,  fare,  charge,  classi- 
fication or  joint  rate  to  be  imposed,  observed  and  followed  in  the  future  in 
lieu  of  that  found  to  be  unreasonable  or  unjustly  discriminatory,  and  it  shall 
determine  and  by  order  fix  a  reasonable  regulatiun,  practice  or  service  to 
be  imposed,  observed  and  followed  in  the  future,  in  lieu  of  that  found  to 
be  unreasonable  or  unjustly  discriminatory,  or  inadequate,  as  the  case  may 
be,  and  it  shall  cause  a  certified  copy  of  each  such  order  to  be  delivered 
to  an  officer  or  station  agent  of  the  railroad  affected  thereby,  which  order 
shall  of  its  own  force  take  effect  and  become  operative  twenty  days  after 
the  service  thereof.  All  railroads  to  which  the  order  applies  shall  make 
such  changes  in  their  schedule  on  file  as  may  be  necessary  to  make  the 
same  conform  to  said  order,  and  no  change  shall  thereafter  be  made  by 
any  railroad  in  any  such  rates,  fares  or  charges,  or  in  any  joint  rate  or 
rates,  withoi^  the  approval  of  the  commission.  Certified  copies  of  all  other 
orders  of  the  commission  shall  be  delivered  to  the  railroads  affected  thereby 
in  like  manner,  and  the  same  shall  take  effect  within  such  times  there- 
after as  the  commission  shall  prescribe. 


Wisconsin  R.  B.  Bate  Commission  Law  111 

a.  The  commission  may  at  any  time,  upon  notice  to  the  railroad,  and 
after  opportunity  to  be  heard  as  provided  in  section  12,  rescind,  alter  or 
amend  any  order  fixing  any  rate  or  rates,  fares,  charges  or  classification, 
or  any  other  order  made  by  the  commission,  and  certified  copies  of  the 
same  shall  be  served  and  take   effect  as  herein  provided  for  original  orders. 

b.  Whenever  the  rate  ordered  substituted  by  the  commission  shall  be 
a  joint  rate  or  charge,  and  the  railroads  party  thereto  shall  fail  to  agiee 
upon  the  apportionment  thereof  within  twenty  days  after  the  service  of 
such  order,  the  commission  may,  after  a  like  hearing,  issue,  a  supplemental 
order  declaring  the  apportionment  of  such  joint  rate  or  charge  and  the 
same  shall   take   effect  of  its  own  force  as  part  of  the  original  order. 

Orders  Reasonable. — Section  15.  All  rates,  fares,  charges,  classifications 
and  joint  rates  fixed  by  the  commission  shall  be  in  force  and  shall  be 
prima  facie  lawful,  and  all  regulations,  practices  and  service  prescribed  by 
the  commission  shall  be  in  force  and  shall  be  prima  facie  reasonable,  until 
finally  found  otherwise  in  an  action  brought  for  that  purpose  pursuant  to 
the  provisions  of  section  16  of  this  act. 

Complaints  and  Actions  Against  Substituted  Rates. — Section  16.  Any 
railroad  or  other  party  in  interest  being  dissatisfied  with  any  order  of  the 
commission  fixing  any  rate  or  rates,  fares,  charges,  classifications,  joint 
rate  or  rates,  or  any  order  fixing  any  regulations,  practices  or  service,  may 
commence  an  action  in  the  circuit  court  against  the  commission  as  de- 
fendant to  vacate  and  set  aside  any  such  order  on  the  ground  that  the 
rate  or  rates,  fares,  charges,  classifications,  joint  rate  or  rates,  fixed  in 
such  order,  is  unlawful,  or  that  any  such  regulation,  practice  or  service, 
fixed  in  such  order,  is  unreasonable,  in  which  action  the  complaint  shall 
be  served  with  the  summons.  The  commission  shall  serve  and  file  its 
answer  to  said  complaint  within  ten  days  after  the  service  thereof,  where- 
upon said  action  shall  be  at  issue  and  stand  ready  for  trial  upon  ten  days' 
notice  by  either  party.  All  actions  brought  under  this  section  shall  have 
precedence  over  any  civil  cause  of  a  different  nature  pending  in  said  court, 
and  the  circuit  court  shall  always  be  deemed  open  for  the  trial  thereof  and 
the  same  same   shall   be   tried  and   determined  as   other   civil  actions. 

a.  No  injunction  shall  issue  suspending  or  staying  any  order  of  the 
commission  except  upon  application  to  the  circuit  court  or  presiding  judge 
thereof,   notice   to  the   commission,   and  hearing. 

b.  If,  upon  the  trial  of  such  action,  evidence  shall  be  introduced  by 
the  plaintiff  which  is  found  by  the  court  to  be  different  from  that  offered 
upon  the  hearing  before  the  commission,  or  additional  thereto,  the  court 
before  proceeding  to  render  judgment,  unless  the  parties  to  such  action 
stipulate  in  writing  to  the  contrary,  shall  transmit  a  copy  of  such  evidence 
to  the  commission,  and  shall  stay  further  proceedings  in  said  action  for 
fifteen  days  from  the  date  of  such  transmission.  Upon  the  receipt  of  such 
evidence  the  commission  shall  consider  the  same,  and  may  alter,  modify, 
amend  or  rescind  its  order  relating  to  such  rate  or  rates,  fares,  charges, 
classification,  joint  rate  or  rates,  regulation,  practice  or  service  complained 
of  in  said  action,  and  shall  report  its  action  thereon  to  said  court  within 
ten  days  from   the  receipt   of  such  evidence. 

c.  If  the  commission  shall  rescind  its  order  complained  of,  the  action 
shall  be  dismissed;  if  it  shall  alter,  modify  or  amend  the  same,  such  altered, 
modified  or  amended  order  shall  take  the  place  of  the  original  order  com- 
plained of.  and  judgment  shall  be  rendered  thereon,  as  though  made  by 
the  commission  in  the  first  instance.  If  the  original  order  shall  not  be 
rescinded  or  changed  by  the  commission,  judgment  shall  be  rendered  upon 
such   original    order. 

d.  Either  party  to  said  action,  within  sixty  days  after  service  of  a 
copy  of  the  order  or  judgment  of  the  circuit  court,  may  appeal  to  the  su- 
preme court.  ^Tiere  an  appeal  is  taken  the  cause  shall,  on  the  return  of 
the  papers  to  the  supreme  court,  be  immediately  placed  on  the  state  cal- 
endar of  the  then  pending  term,  and  shall  be  signed  and  brought  to  a  hear- 
ing in   the  same  manner  as  other  causes  on  the  state  calendar. 

e.  In  all  trials  under  this  section  the  burden  of  proof  shall  be  upon  the 
plaintiff  to  show  by  clear  and  satisfactory  evidence  that  the  order  of  the 
commission  complained  of  is  unlawful,  or  unreasonable,  as  the  case  may  be. 

Rules  of  Evidence  and  Practice.— Section  17.  In  all  actions  and  proceed- 
ings in  court  arising  under  this  act  all  processes  shall  be  served,  and  the 
practice  and  rules  of  evidence  shall  be  the  same  as  in  civil  actions,  except 
as  otherwise  herein  provided.  Every  sheriff  or  other  officer  empowered  to 
execute  civil  processes  shall  execute  any  process  issued  under  the  pro- 
visions of  this  act,  and  shall  receive  such  compensation  therefor  as  may  be 
prescribed  by  law  for   similar  services. 

a.  No  person  shall  be  excused  from  testifying  or  from  producing  books 
and  papers  in  any  proceedings  based  upon  or  growing  out  of  any  violation 
of  the  provisions  of  this  act  on  the  ground  or  for  the  reason  that  the  tes- 
timony or  evidence,  documentary  or  otherwise,  required  of  him  may  tend 
to  incriminate  him  or  subject  him  to  penalty  or  forfeiture,  but  no  person 
having  so  testified  shall  be  prosecuted   or  subjected  to  any  penalty  or  for- 


112  Wisconsin  R.  R.  Rate  Commission  Law 

feiture  for,  or  on  account  of,  any  transaction,  matter  or  thing  concerning 
which  he  ma3^  have  testified  or  produced  any  documentary  evidence;  pro- 
vided, that  no  person  so  testifying  shall  be  exempted  from  prosecution 
or   punishment   for   perjury   in  so   testifying. 

b.  Upon  application  of  any  person  the  commission  shall  furnish  certi- 
fied copies,  under  the  seal  of  the  commission,  of  any  order  made  by  it, 
which  shall  be  prima  facie  evidence  of  the  facts  stated  therein. 

Inquiry,  etc.,  by  Commission.— Section  18.  -  The  commission  shall  have 
authority  to  inquire  into  the  management  of  the  business  of  all  railroads, 
and  shall  keep  itself  informed  as  to  the  manner  and  method  in  which  the 
same  is  conducted,  and  shall  have  the  right  to  obtain  from  any  railroad  all 
necessary  information  to  enable  the  commission  to  perform  the  duties  and 
carry  out  the   objects   for   which  it  was  created. 

a.  The  commission  shall  cause  to  be  prepared  suitable  blanks  for  the 
purposes  designated  in  this  act,  which  shall  conform  as  nearly  as  practica- 
ble to  the  forms  prescribed  by  the  interstate  commerce  commission,  and 
shall,  when  necessary,  furnish  such  blanks  to  each  railroad.  Any  rail- 
road receiving  from  the  commission  any  such  blanks,  shall  cause  the  same 
to  be  properly  filled  out  so  as  to  answer  fully  and  correctly  each  question 
therein  propounded,  and  in  case  it  is  unable  to  answer  any  question  it 
shall  give  a  good  and  sufficient  reason  for  such  failure;  and  such  answer 
shall  be  verified  under  oath  by  the  proper  officer  of  said  railroad  and  re- 
turned to  the  commission  at  its  oflSce  within  the  time  fixed  by  the  com- 
mission. 

b.  The  commission  or  any  commissioner,  or  any  person  or  persons  em- 
ployed bv  the  commission  for  that  purpose,  shall,  upon  demand,  have  the 
right  to  inspect  the  books  and  papers  of  any  railroad  and  to  examine  under 
oath  any  officer,  agent  or  employe  of  such  railroad  in  relation  to  its  busi- 
ness and  affairs;  provided,  that  any  person  other  than  one  of  said  com- 
missioners who  shall  make  such  demand  shall  produce  his  authority  to  make 
such  inspection  under  the  hand  of  the  commissioner,  or  of  the  secretary, 
and  under   the   seal  of  said  commission. 

c.  The  commission  may  require,  by  order  or  subpoena,  to  be  served  on 
any  railroad,  in  the  same  m.anner  that  a  summons  is  served  in  a  civil  ac- 
tion in  the  circuit  court,  the  production  within  this  state,  at  such  time 
and  place  as  it  may  designate,  of  any  books,  papers  or  accounts  kept  by 
said  railroad  in  any  oflfice  or  place  without  the  state  of  Wisconsin,  or 
verified  copies  in  lieu  thereof,  if  the  commission  shall  so  order,  in  order 
that  an  examination  thereof  may  be  made  by  the  commission  or  under  its 
direction.  Anv  railroad  failing  or  refusing  to  comply  with  any  such  order 
or  subpoena  shall,  for  each  day  it  shall  so  fail  or  refuse,  forfeit  and  pay 
into  the  state  treasury  a  sum  of  not  less  than  one  hundred  dollars  nor 
more  than   one  thousand  dollars. 

Contracts,  etc.,  Filed.— Section  19.  Every  railroad  whenever  required  by 
the  commission  shall,  within  a  time  to  be  fixed  by  the  commission,  deliver 
to  the  commission  for  its  use  copies  of  all  contracts  which  relate  to  the 
transportation  of  persons  or  property,  or  any  service  in  connection  there- 
with, made  or  entered  into  by  it  with  any  other  railroad  company,  car 
company,  equipment  company,  express  or  other  transportation  company,  or 
anv  shipper   or  shippers,    or   other  person  or  persons  doing  business  with  it. 

a.  Every  railroad  shall,  on  the  first  Monday  in  February  in  each  year, 
and  oftener  if  required  by  the  commission,  file  with  the  commission  a  veri- 
fied list  of  all  railroad  tickets,  passes  and  mileage  t)ooks  issued  free  or  for 
other  than  actual  bona  fide  money  consideration  at  full  established  rates 
during  the  preceding  year,  together  with  the  names  of  the  recipients 
thereof,  the  amounts  received  therefor  and  the  reasons  for  issuing  the 
same.  This  provision  shall  not  apply  to  the  sale  of  tickets  at  reduced  rates 
open  to  the  public,  nor  to  tickets,  passes  or  mileage  books  issued  to  per- 
sons not  residents  of  this  state,  nor  to  tickets,  passes  or  mileage  books 
issued  prior  to   the  passage   of   this   act. 

Amounts  Expended  in  Construction.— Section  20.  The  commission  shall 
ascertain,  as  early  as  practicable,  the  amount  of  money  expended  in  the 
construction  and  equipment  of  every  railroad,  the  amount  of  money  ex- 
pended to  procvire  the  right  of  way,  also  the  amount  of  money  it  would 
require  to  secure  the  right  of  way,  reconstruct  the  roadbed,  track,  depots 
and  other  facilities  for  transportation,  and  to  replace  all  the  physical  prop- 
erties belonging  to  the  railroad.  It  shall  ascertain  the  outstanding  bonds, 
debentures  and  indebtedness  and  the  amounts  respectively  thereof,  the 
date  when  issued,  to  whom  issued,  to  whom  sold,  the  price  paid  in  cash, 
property  or  labor  therefor,  what  disposition  was  made  of  the  proceeds,  by 
whom  the  indebtedness  is  held,  so  far  as  ascertainable,  the  amount  pur- 
porting to  be  due  thereon,  the  floating  indebtedness  of  the  railroad,  the 
credits  due  the  railroad,  other  property  on  hand  belonging  to  it,  the  judi- 
cial or  other  sales  of  said  road,  its  property  or  franchises,  and  the  amounts 
purporting  to  have  been  paid  and  in  what  manner  paid  therefor.  The  com- 
mission shall  also  ascertain  the  gross  and  net  income  of  the  railroad  from 
all    sources   in   detail;    the   amounts   paid   for  salaries   to    the   officers    of   the 


Wisconsin  R.  R.  Rate  Commission  Law  113 

road,  and  the  wages  paid  to  its  employes  and  the  maxmum  hours  of  contin- 
uous service  required  of  each  class.  Whenever  the  information  required  by 
This  section  is  obtained,  it  shall  be  printed  in  the  annual  report  of  the  com- 
mission. In  making  such  investigation  the  commission  may  avail  itself  of 
any  information  in  possession  of  the  state   board  of  assessments. 

Interstate  Rates. — Section  21.  The  commission  shall  have  power,  and  it 
is  hereby  made  its  duty,  to  investigate  all  freight  rates  on  interstate  traffic 
on  railroads  in  this  state,  and  when  the  same  are,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
commission,  excessive  or  discriminatory  or  are  levied  or  laid  in  violation  of 
the  interstate  commerce  law,  or  in  conflict  with  the  rulings,  orders  or 
regulations  of  the  interstate  commerce  commission,  the  commission  shall 
present  the  facts  to  the  railroad,  with  a  request  to  make  such  changes  as 
the  commission  may  advise,  and  if  such  changes  are  not  made  within  a 
reasonable  time  the  commission  shall  apply  by  petition  to  the  interstate 
commerce  commission  for  relief.  All  freight  tariffs  issued  by  any  such 
railroad  relating  to  interstate  traffic  in  this  state  shall  be  filed  in  the  office 
of  the  commission  within  thirty  days  after  the  passage  and  publication  of 
this  act,  and  all  such  tariffs  thereafter  issued  shall  be  filed  with  the  com- 
mission  when    issued. 

Discrimination  Prohibited. — Section  22.  If  any  railroad,  or  any  agent 
or  ofncer  thereof,  shall  directly  or  indirectly,  by  any  special  rate,  rebate, 
drawback,  or  by  means  of  false  billing,  false  classification,  false  weighing, 
or  by  any  other  device  whatsoever,  charge,  demand,  collect  or  receive  from 
any  person,  firm  or  corporation  a  greater  or  less  compensation  for  any 
service  rendered  or  to  be  rendered  by  it  for  the  transportation  of  persons 
or  property  or  for  any  service  in  connection  therewith,  than  that  prescribed 
in  the  published  tariffs  then  in  force,  or  established  as  provided  herein,  or 
than  it  charges,  demands,  collects  or  receives  from  any  other  person,  firm 
or  corporation  for  a  like  and  contemporaneous  service,  such  railroad  shall 
be  deemed  guilty  of  unjust  discrimination,  which  is  hereby  prohibited  and 
declared  to  be  unlawful,  and  upon  conviction  thereof  shall  forfeit  and  pay 
into  the  state  treasury  not  less  than  one  hundred  dollars  nor  more  than 
ten  thousand  dollars  for  each  offense;  and  any  agent  or  officer  so  offend- 
ing shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor  and  upon  conviction  thereof 
shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  less  than  fifty  dollars  nor  more  than  one 
hundred  dollars  for  each  offense.  , 

a.  It  shall  be  unlawful  for  any  railroad  to  demand,  charge,  collect  or 
receive  from  any  person,  firm  or  corporation  a  less  compensation  for  the 
transportation  of  property  or  for  any  service  rendered  or  to  be  rendered 
by  said  railroad,  in  consideration  of  said  person,  firm  or  corporation  fur- 
nishing any  part  of  the  facilities  incident  thereto;  provided,  nothing  herein 
shall  be  construed  as  prohibiting  any  railroad  from  renting  any  facilities 
incident    to    transportation  and   paying    a  reasonable   rental    therefor. 

Preference  Prohibited. — Section  23.  If  any  railroad  shall  make  or  give 
any  undue  or  unreasonable  preference  or  advantage  to  any  particular  per- 
son, firm  or  corporation,  or  shall  subject  any  particular  person,  firm  or  cor- 
poration to  any  undue  or  unreasonable  prejudice  or  disadvantage  in  any 
respect  whatsoever,  such  railroad  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  unjust  dis- 
crimination,  which   is   hereby   prohibited   and  declared  unlawful. 

Unlawful  to  Accept  Rebates. — Section  24.  It  shall  be  unlawful  for  any 
person,  firm  or  corporation  knowingly  to  accept  or  receive  any  rebate,  con- 
cession or  discrimination  in  respect  to  transportation  of  any  property  wholly 
within  this  state,  or  for  any  service  in  connection  therewith,  whereby  any 
such  property  shall,  by  any  device  whatsoever,  be  transported  at  a  less  rate 
than  that  named  in  the  published  tariffs  in  force  as  provided  herein,  or 
whereby  any  service  or  advantage  is  received  other  than  is  therein  speci- 
fied. Any  person,  firm  or  corporation  violating  the  provisions  of  this  sec- 
tion shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and  on  conviction  thereof 
shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  less  than  fifty  dollars  nor  more  than  one 
thousand   dollars   for  each  offense.  , 

Treble  Damages. — Section  25.  If  any  railroad  shall  do  or  cause  to  be 
done  or  permit  to  be  done  any  matter,  act  or  thing  in  this  act  prohibited 
or  declared  to  be  unlawful,  or  shall  omit  to  do  any  act,  matter  or  thing 
required  to  be  done  by  it,  such  railroad  shall  be  liable  to  the  person,  firm 
or  corporation  injured  therebv  in  treble  the  amount  of  damages  sustained 
in  consequence  of  such  violation;  provided,  that  any  recovery  as  in  this 
section  provided  shall  in  no  manner  affect  a  recovery  by  the  state  of  the 
penaltv  prescribed  for  suuch  violation. 

Penalty  for  Violations  by  Officers,  Agents  or  Employes.— Section  26. 
Any  officer,  agent  or  employe  of  any  railroad  who  shall  fail  or  wilfully 
refuse  to  fill  out  and  return  any  blanks  as  required  by  this  act,  or  shall 
fail  or  refuse  to  answer  any  questions  therein  propounded,  or  shall 
knowingly  or  wilfully  give  a  false  answer  to  any  such  question,  or  shall 
evade  the  answer  to  any  such  question,  where  the  fact  inquired  of 
is  within  his  knowledge,  or  who  shall,  upon  proper  demand,  fail 
or  wilfully  refuse  to  exhibit  to  the  commission  or  any  commissioner,  or 
any  person  authorized  to  examine  the  same,  any  book,  paper  or  account  of 


114  Wisconsin  E.  B.  Rate  Cotnmission  Law 

such  railroad,  which  is  in  his  possession  or  under  his  control,  shall  be 
deemed  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and  upon  conviction  thereof  shall  be  pun- 
ished bv  a  fine  of  not  less  than  one  hundred  dollars  nor  more  than  one 
thousand  dollars  for  each  such  offense;  and  a  penalty  of  not  less  than  five 
hundred  dollars  nor  more  than  one  thousand  dollars  shall  be  recovered  from 
the  railroad  for  each  such  offense  when  such  oflScer,  agent  or  employe  acted 
in  obedience  to  the  direction,  instruction  or  request  of  such  railroad  or  any- 
general    officer    thereof. 

General  Penalty  for  Violations  by  Railroads.— Section  27.  If  any  rail- 
road shall  violate  any  provision  of  this  act,  or  shall  do  any  act  herem  pro- 
hibited, or  shall  fail  or  refuse  to  perform  any  duty  enjoined  upon  it,  for 
which  a  penalty  has  not  been  provided,  or  shall  fail,  neglect  or  refuse  to 
obey  anv  lawful  requirement  or  order  made  by  the  commission,  or  any 
judgment  or  decree  made  by  any  court  upon  its  application,  for  every  such 
violation,  failure  or  refusal,  such  railroad  shall  forfeit  and  pay  into  the 
state  treasury  a  sum  of  not  less  than  one  hundred  dollars  nor  more  than 
ten  thousand  dollars  for  each  offense.  In  construing  and  enforcing  the 
provisions  of  this  section,  the  act,  omission  or  failure  of  any  officer,  agent 
or  other  person  acting  for  or  employed  by  any  railroad,  acting  within  the 
scope  of  his  employment,  shall  in  every  case  be  deemed  to  be  the  act, 
omission    or  failure  of  such  railroad. 

Emergency  Rates. — Section  28.  The  commission  shall  have  power,  when 
deemed  by  it  necessarv  to  prevent  injury  to  the  business  or  interests  of 
the  peoDle'  or  railroads  of  this  state  in  consequence  of  interstate  rate  wars, 
or  in  case  of  any  other  emergency  to  be  judged  of  by  the  commission,  to 
temporarily  alter,  amend,  or,  v/ith  the  consent  of  the  railroad  company  con- 
cerned, suspend  any  existing  passenger  rates,  freight  rates,  schedules  and 
orders  on  anv  railroad  or  part  of  railroad  in  this  state.  Such  rates  so 
made  bv  the  commission  shall  apply  on  one  or  more  of  the  railroads  in  this 
state  or  any  portion  thereof  as  may  be  directed  by  the  commission,  and 
shall  take  effect  at  such  time  and  remain  in  force  for  such  length  of  time 
as  may   be  prescribed  by  the  commission. 

Rates  Not  Specifically  Designated.-Section  29.  Whenever,  after  hear- 
ing and  investigation  as  pz'ovided  by  this  act,  the  commission  shall  find 
that  anv  charge,  regulation  or  practice  affecting  the  transportation  ot 
passengers  or  property,  or  any  service  in  connection  therewith,  not  herein- 
before specifically  designated,  is  unreasonable  or  unjustly  discriminatory, 
it  shall  have  the  power  to  regulate  the  same  as  provided  in  sections  12  and 
14   of   this   act. 

Accidents. — Section  30.  Every  railroad  shall,  whenever  an  accident  at- 
tended with  loss  of  hum.an  life  occurs  within  this  state,  upon  its  line  of  road 
or  on  its  depot  grounds  or  yards,  give  immediate  notice  thereof  to  the  com- 
mission. In  the  event  of  any  such  accident,  the  commission,  if  it  deem  the 
public  interest  requires  it,  shall  cause  an  investigation  to  be  made  forth- 
with, which  investigation  shall  be  held  in  the  locality  of  the  accident,  un- 
less for  greater  convenience  of  those  concerned,  it  shall  order  such  investi- 
gation to  be  held  at  some  other  place,  and  said  investigation  may  be  ad- 
journed fromx  place  to  place  as  may  be  found  necessary  and  convenient. 
The  commission  shall  seasonably  notify  an  officer  or  station  agent  of  the 
companv  of  the  time  and  place  of  the  investigation.  The  cost  of  such  in- 
vestigation shall  be  certified  by  the  chairman  of  the  commission,  and  the 
same  shall  be  audited  and  paid  by  the  state  in  the  same  manner  as  other 
expenses  are  audited  and  paid.  ,     ,     . 

Inquiry  Into  Violations. — Section  31.  The  commission  shall  inquire  Into 
anv  neglect  or  violation  of  the  laws  of  this  state  by  any  railroad  corporation 
doing  business  therein,  or  by  the  officers,  agents  or  employes  thereof,  or 
by  any  person  operating  a  railroad,  and  shall  have  the  power,  and  it  shall 
be  its  duty,  to  enforce  the  provisions  of  this  act  as  well  as  all  other  laws 
relating  to  'railroads  and  report  all  violations  thereof  to  the  attcrney  gen- 
eral' upon  request  of  the  commission  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  attorney 
general  or  the  district  attorney  of  the  proper  county,  to  aid  in  any  iiivesti- 
°-ation  hearing  or  trial  had  under  the  provisions  of  this  act,  and  to  institute 
and  prosecute  all  necessary  actions  or  proceedings  for  the  enforcement  of 
this  act  and  of  all  other  laws  of  this  state  relating  to  railroads  and  for  the 
punishment  of  all  violations  thereof.  Any  forfeiture  or  penalty  herein  pro- 
vided shall  be  recovered  and  suit  thereon  shall  be  brought  in  the  name  of 
the  state  of  Wisconsin  in  the  circuit  court  for  Dane  county.  The  commis- 
sion shall  have  authority  to  employ  counsel  in  any  proceeding,  investigation, 

^^mvestigations  of  Claims.— Section  32.  All  claims  against  any  railroad 
for  loss  of  or  damage  to  property  from  any  cause,  or  for  overcharge  upon 
anv  shipments,  or  for  anv  other  service,  if  not  acted  upon  within  ninety  days 
from  the  date  of  the  filing  of  such  claim  with  the  railroad,  may  be  investi- 
gated bv  the  commission,  in  its  discretion,  and  the  results  of  such  investi- 
gation shall  be  embodied  in  a  special  report  which  shall  be  open  to  public 
inspection  and  may  be  included  in  the  next  annual  report  of  the  com- 
mission. 


Wisconsin  B.  B.  Bate  Commission  Law  115 

Technicality  Not  to  Invalidate.— Section  33.  A  substantial  compliance 
with  the  requirements  of  this  act  shall  be  sufficient  to  give  effect  to  all  the 
rules,  orders,  acts  and  regulations  of  the  commission,  and  they  shall  not 
be  declared  inoperative,  illegal  or  void  for  any  omission  of  a  technical 
nature  in  respect  thereto. 

Rights  of  Action  Not  Waived. — Section  34.  This  act  shall  not  have  the 
effect  to  release  or  waive  any  right  of  action  by  the  state  or  by  any  person 
for  any  right,  penalty  or  forfeiture  which  may  have  arisen  or  which  may 
hereafter  arise  under  any  law  of  this  state;  and  all  penalties  and  forfeit- 
ures accruing  under  this  act  shall  be  cumulative  and  a  suit  for,  and  re- 
covery of  one,  shall  not  be  a  bar  to  the  recovery  of  any  other  penalty. 

Present  Schedule  in  Force. — Section  35.  Until  December  31st,  1905,  unless 
the  commission  shall  otherwise  order,  after  application  and  hearing  as 
hereinafter  provided,  it  shall  be  unlawful  for  any  railroad  within  this  state 
to  demand,  collect,  or  receive  a  greater  compensation  for  the  transportation 
of  property  between  points  in  this  state  than  the  charge  fixed  in  the  lowest 
published  schedule  of  rates  for  the  same  service  between  the  same  points, 
in  force  on  the  1st  day  of  April,  1905.  Every  railroad  in  this  state  shall, 
within  thirty  days  after  the  passage  and  publication  of  this  act,  file  in  the 
office  of  the  commission  copies  of  all  schedules  of  rates,  including  joint 
rates  in  force  on  its  line  or  lines,  between  points  within  this  state,  on  the 
1st  day  of  April,  1905,  and  all  rates  in  force  between  such  points  at  any 
time  subsequent  to  said  date.  Any  railroad  desiring  to  advance  or  discon- 
tinue any  such  rate  or  rates  may  make  application  to  the  commission  in 
writing,  stating  the  advance  in  or  discontinuation  of  the  rate  or  rates  de- 
sired, giving  the  reasons  for  such  advance  or  discontinuation.  Upon  re- 
ceiving such  application,  the  commission  shall  fix  a  time  and  place  for  hear- 
ing, and  give  such  notice  to  interested  parties  as  it  shall  deem  proper  and  rea- 
sonable. If,  after  such  hearing  and  investigation,  the  commission  shall  find 
that  the  change  or  discontinuation  applied  for  is  reasonable,  fair  and  just, 
it  shall  grant  the  application  either  in  whole  or  in  part.  Any  railroad  being 
dissatisfied  with  any  order  of  the  commission  made  under  the  provisions  of 
this  section  may  commence  an  action  against  it  in  the  circuit  court  in  the 
manner  provided  in  section  16  of  this  act,  which  action  shall  be  tried  and 
determined  in  the  same  manner  as   is  provided   in   said  section. 

Office  of  Railroad  Commissioner  Abolished. — Section  36.  All  powers, 
duties  and  privileges  imposed  and  conferred  upon  the  railroad  commissioner 
of  this  state  under  existing  laws  are  hereby  imposed  and  conferred  upon 
the  commission  created  under  the  provisions  of  this  act;  provided,  that  the 
power  and  duties  conferred  and  imposed  upon  the  railroad  commissioner 
by  chapter  431  of  the  laws  of  1903.  and  sections  1795a,  1796  and  1797  of  the 
statutes  of  1898  shall  continue  to  be  exercised  by  him  until  the  first  Mon- 
day in  January,  1907.  The  present  railroad  commissioner,  whose  term  com- 
menced on  the  first  Monday  in  January,  1905,  shall  continue  in  office  until 
the  first  Monday  in  January,  1907,  at  his  present  salary,  on  which  date  the 
office  is  hereby  abolished. 

Inconsistent  Laws  Repealed. — Section  37.  So  much  of  section  128  of  the 
statutes  of  1898  as  provides  for  the  election  of  a  railroad  commissioner, 
also  sections  1793  and  1803  of  said  statutes,  and  all  other  acts  and  parts  of 
acts  conflicting  with  the  provisions  of  this  act  are  hereby  repealed  in  so  far 
as  they  are   inconsistent  herewith. 

Appropriation. — Section  38.  A  sum  sufficient  to  carry  out  the  provisions 
of  this  act  is  hereby  appropriated  out  of  any  money  in  the  state  treasury 
not    otherwise    appropriated. 

Section  39.  This  act  shall  take  effect  and  be  in  force  from  and  after  its 
passage  and  publication. 

Approved  June  13,  1905. 

Published  June  15,   1905. 


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